Hibs braced for new Celtic bid for Mcginn

● Striker gives manager Rodgers a boost with scoring return after knee injury

Hibs are bracing themselves for further bids for Scotland midfielder John Mcginn after knocking back a £1.5 million offer from Celtic.

Mcginn is entering the final year of his Easter Road contract and has already been the subject of failed approaches by Ipswich Town and Nottingham Forest.

Derby County and Birmingham City have also been credited with an interest in the 22-year-old and may make moves of their own now Celtic have made known their desire to sign the former St Mirren man. Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has spoken previously about his admiration for Mcginn and Hibs will fully expect Celtic, where the player’s grandfather Jack was once chairman, to come back with an improved offer.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, speaking from their tour in Austria last night, refused to discuss specific targets but admitted that work is ongoing to bring players in.

He said: “There is a lot of speculation around players but I will only talk when they are signed and done. The club are trying to do that.”

It heralds an anxious time for Hibs supporters, with Mcginn’s fellow midfielder Dylan Mcgeouch having signed for English League One side Sunderland.

Celtic, meanwhile, ended their tour to Austria with a 1-0 win over Sparta Prague, Moussa Dembele scoring.

Moussa Dembele gave Celtic a Champions League boost after coming back into the team with a bang as he hit the only goal of a pre-season friendly against Sparta Prague.

Dembele missed the first two games of the club’s Austrian training camp after suffering a knee knock but he got 45 minutes against the Czech side to put himself in the frame for Celtic’s European opener against Alashkert next Tuesday. The French striker outmuscled his opponent and latched on to James Forrest’s pass down the right channel before firing a powerful strike inside the near post.

Manager Brendan Rodgers – who has been linked with a move for hibernian midfielder John Mcginn – told Celtic TV: “We had to ensure we nursed him through the game but he could have had a hat-trick. Probably a little bit of tiredness with a couple of his finishes but a great first goal – real strong, power and a great first touch. And [in the] first half he and Odsonne [Edouard] linked up really well. So it was good to have him back.”

It was a second friendly of the day for Celtic, who beat Austrian side BW Linz 2-1 in the morning thanks to goals from Mikey Johnston and Scott Sinclair. Rodgers split up his squad with the aim of helping

0 Moussa Dembele: Winner. his players prepare for next week’s first qualifying round first leg in Armenia.

Leigh Griffiths, Marvin Compper and Scott Allan also featured for the morning team but Rodgers named a more experienced side for the afternoon encounter.

“It was a tough day for the players,” the Celtic boss said. “For the last 15 minutes of both games, you don’t get that in training when you are fatigued and trying to hold on to something. It was another excellent exercise for us and a really good end to the whole nine days.

“We couldn’t arrive into that game next week without having the full 90 minutes in the players’ legs. So that was the plan.”