John McGinn was last night weighing up his options over a move to either Celtic or Aston Villa after both clubs put deals on the table for the Scotland midfielder.

The Hibernian player spent the day in Birmingham as he entered into dialogue with the Championship side and had a look around the facilities at the club.

Having had three bids for the player turned down by Hibs this summer, Celtic are believed to have matched the offer and personal terms – £23k per week - made by Villa for the 23-year-old former St Mirren player.

Hibs had insisted that Celtic had not met their valuation of the player with their trio of offers but the Parkhead side returned with a deal that was in keeping with the Leith club’s estimation this week.

It is now down to the player to decide where he wants to play his football. Sources close to McGinn intimated that privately he felt as though there would be greater scope of playing regular first-team football with Villa than there would be at Celtic, although as the clock ticked last night he had not put to paper on a deal.

It is understood that McGinn’s representatives had spoke to Celtic this weekend with the Parkhead club confident then of getting the deal over the line before the closure of the transfer window.

However, with Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish a target for Tottenham this summer McGinn has been identified as a potential replacement ahead of Thursday’s English deadline.

And Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers made no attempt to disguise his thoughts on the matter as McGinn weighed up his options.

If you open your door to players in general and they have an opportunity to go through that door and have a look and see that there are other good clubs with facilities and are equal – and probably better – than what is here, then you risk the chance of them not coming back though the door,” he said. “That is the gamble you take if you wait.

“I just wanted quality. We weren’t needing a huge overhaul here this summer. For me it was pretty straightforward.”

And Rodgers has also revealed that a permanent deal could have been done last summer for French striker Odsonne Edouard. Celtic shelled out a club record fee for the French forward to make his loan deal from PSG a permanent one in the early stages of the window.

“A year earlier when he was available, there was an availability there for that [a permanent deal],” he said. “But, like I say, it wasn’t done.

“The most important thing is that it got done.

“You see then when you deliver that quality, that level.”