£3M OR NO DEAL
Hibees hold out on McGinn
Hibs will hold on to John McGinn unless Celtic double their bid to £3million.
The Parkhead club made a first offer of £1.5m for the midfielder last week, which was rejected by Easter Road chiefs. MailSport understands that Hibees chairman Rod Petrie is determined to hold out for a £3mfee – despite the Scotland midfield star having just 12 months left to run on his contract.
Brendan Rodgers is keen to sign McGinn after Stuart Armstrong’s departure to Southampton and Celtic are expected to return with an improved
Brendan Rodgers is ready to let his French double act loose on Alashkert after Leigh Griffiths suffered a Champions League blow.
Hoops hitman Griff is battling to join the squad who set off today on the trek to Armenia after suffering a crock relapse – and defender Marvin Compper’s injury jinx has also struck again.
Rodgers is in confident mood ahead of Tuesday’s qualifier as he has Moussa Dembele and Odsonne Edouard firing on all cylinders.
The Celtic front men formed a deadly duo as the Scottish champs thumped Shamrock Rovers 7- 0 in Dublin yesterday.
And they are set to be sent out to try and shoot down Alashkert in Yereven.
Rodgers said: “We’ve played it before with a two up front. It’s a system I’m doing more preparation with it. We have the personnel for it, especially when teams sit in.
“During the first half against Rovers you saw the numbers we had pouring forward and the speed.
“There are still things I need to iron out with it but we are very aggressive and very fast.
“Odsonne is such a clever player and he has everything.
“And Moussa with his strength and power, I think the combination within the system really works well for us.
“You see how they combine and the running off the ball. We want to get back to scoring more goals. That was one of the key items we looked at when discussing our goals for this year.
“It’s not necessarily about having two strikers because we normally play with three in a different way. It’s about getting that aggression in attack and I’ve been really pleased with that over pre-season.”
Rodgers would love to hit the goal trail in Armenia and leave the Glasgow return leg a formality.
But the manager admitted he’ll be happy just to see them get through safely as he insisted his squad is ready to roar.
He said: “The idea is to get over the two legs and get through. The conditions will obviously be more challenging for us.
“At this stage in the season we couldn’t be better prepared”
Griffiths will be assessed this morning before take- of f but Rodgers expects Scott Brown to be on the plane despite struggling with a knock in the last week.
He said: “Scott is okay. He had a niggle when we were away earlier in Austria.
“It flared up a little bit. Similar to last year when he came off but he should – and hopefully will – be fine for Tuesday.
“It’s a little issue behind his knee. It’s nothing overly serious and it just stiffened up.
“At this point in the season I always say to the players that we are here to develop our fitness so we don’t want to take any risks with injuries.
“In another game Scott would probably have played on but there was no point risking it.”
Edouard and Callum McGregor f ired doubles in Dublin, Scott Sinclair was on the scoresheet and new Bhoy Lewis Morgan grabbed his first goal for the Hoops late in the game.
Rodgers – who admitted his bid to land Hibs midf ielder John McGinn was no further forward – said: “In terms of what we are looking for at this stage of the season I felt it really was the perfect game to play.
“We played two teams – first 65 minutes we were really strong with good pace and movement throughout the team.
“We defended very aggressively. There are one or two areas we need to develop in terms of the shape we are playing.
“Then of course we replaced that team with a younger team that was very dynamic.
“Overall it was a very good exercise. You look at the players and their running. I’m very pleased with it.”
Rodgers raved about his front men but picked out McGregor as a key man heading into their European qualification campaign.
The gaffer said: “Callum must be one of the most underrated players I’ve ever known.
“Just his ability to keep the ball but also to break the lines and score goals.
“He is a super player and a talented guy who can play in many positions for us.”