ASTON VILLA are on an unlikely title charge – and a certain Scotsman has been at the heart of it.
And now Scotland hero John McGinn has started earning nods to be named the first Scottish winner of the PFA Player of the Year award for FORTY years.
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Unai Emery’s men embellished their title credentials recently with wins over rivals Manchester City and Arsenal in the space, with McGinn himself on target against the Gunners.
The last of Villa’s top-flight wins came before the Premier League era, back in 1981.
And former Liverpool and England keeper David James for one reckons that McGinn has earned fulsome consideration to be named the first winner of the PFA Player’s Player of the Year prize since Kenny Dalglish back in 1983.
James told luckyblock.com: “I’m putting John McGinn up there as one of the players of the season already.
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“With Emi Martinez in goal, McGinn in midfield and Ollie Watkins up top, the spine of the Villa team are all playing well, and I think that’s where Unai Emery needs to be congratulated to get so many players performing at such a high level.
“However, John McGinn in particular has stood out for me.
“He’s one of those horrible players who you’d never want to play against.
“His quality, aggression, gamesmanship and skill are all to the optimum best at the moment, and we’ve seen him do it for both Villa and Scotland for so much time now.
“I just love watching him play and I think he’s going to be in the shake-up for Player of the Season, that’s for sure.”
Dalglish is one of only three Scots to win the coveted Players’ Player prize, which is voted on by your peers.
Andy Gray, also then of Aston Villa, picked up the prize in the 1977-78 season, with John Wark of Ipswich winning the award in 1980-81.
As for the football writers’ prize south of ther border, the last winner was Gordon Strachan in 1990-91.
Steve Nicol of Liverpool also got the football writers’ gong in 1988-89, with Dalglish picking up the prize twice.
Kenny Burns, Frank McLintock, Billy Bremner, Dave Mackay and Bobby Collins all also got their hands on the football writers’ award.
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