'He was excellent': John McGinn admits he's a big fan of £25m ace Aston Villa want to sign
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John McGinn might not know his name, but the Aston Villa captain certainly likes what he sees from a player reportedly on the radar of the Premier League outfit.
TBR understands that Aston Villa have identified the 20-year-old sensation as a potential £25 million target ahead of the January transfer window. A player Unai Emery, John McGinn and co have viewed in action at very close quarters, and in very recent times.
Joel Ordonez was the rock at the heart of the Club Brugge backline which helped secure the grittiest of 1-0 wins over Aston Villa at the start of November, after all.
A performance which really put Ordonez’s on the map. TBR understands that Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Brentford and Wolves are keeping a close eye on the 20-year-old Ecuador international too.
Brighton and Hove Albion, meanwhile, a more long-time admirers. The Seagulls tend to be ahead of the curve when spotting football’s rising talents, especially those who started out in South America, and Ordonez could yet follow in the footsteps of compatriot Moises Caicedo at The Amex.
That is if Aston Villa do not get there first, of course.
John McGinn hails Aston Villa target Joel Ordonez
McGinn, who started in the heart of Villa’s midfield during that narrow defeat at the Jan Breydel Stadium, would certainly be pleased to see Ordonez at close quarters again.
This time, in claret rather than Club Brugge’s black and blue stripes.
“It was a tough game actually,” McGinn tells the Scottish Sun, highlighting the performance of Club Brugge’s former Norwich City youngster Christos Tzolis too.
“They were really organised. We couldn’t really break them down. They let us have a lot of the ball and then they broke fast.
“They had a really good young right centre-back. I think he was from Ecuador. He was excellent, probably one of the best players in the park.”
Quite the endorsement, then, from a man who might yet end up becoming Ordonez’s skipper in the near future.
Likened to Real Madrid’s former Chelsea colossus Antonio Rudiger by those in the now, Ordonez is an athletic and physically imposing presence at 6ft 2ins but also possesses a fine passing range when playing out from the back.
Should Aston Villa win the race, Ordonez would likely operate as a back-up to Ezri Konsa and potentially as his replacement should the versatile England international be picked by Emery to fill in at right-back, as has often been the case recently.
Wolves want a new defender but Mario Lemina ears Gary O’Neil praise
Newcastle, meanwhile, may be looking for a younger alternative to the long-serving Fabian Schar. He will turn 33 in December. TBR understands that both Newcastle and Aston Villa looked at Juventus Federico Gatti too, though the late-blooming Italian is now expected to stay with The Old Lady for the long haul.
Wolves are certainly in the market for centre-halves after losing Yerson Mosquera to a long-term injury. TBR have been told that Rennes’ Christopher Wooh has admirers at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The experienced Mario Lemina did, however, give Gary O’Neil some food for thought with a fine display in an unfamiliar centre-half role in Saturday’s 4-1 comeback win over Fulham. Lemina even assisted Matheus Cunha’s Bergkamp-esque equaliser with a pass straight out of the Conor Coady playbook.
“I thought [Lemina] was excellent there. It's not that I thought it was excellent for a midfielder playing there, I thought it was an excellent centre-back performance,” O’Neil said after Wolves climbed out of the relegation zone.
“Physically, he has the tools to play there. He’s strong, he’s quick, he’s very good with the ball, but obviously there's a concern when you put someone there who hasn't played there.
"I thought it was a real top performance, and that's not easy to do at the highest level, when you’re thrown into a position that you’re not used to.”
