Aston Villa captain John McGinn has expressed his gratitude to manager Unai Emery for helping him avoid losing his spark.
Villa came into the international break with four consecutive wins in the Premier League and Europa League and McGinn played a big role in dragging his team out of their early-season slump.
McGinn has scored three goals already this season and has played in a couple of different positions. With injuries to Amadou Onana, Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans affecting Emery‘s midfield options, McGinn made a big impression back in the middle.
In an interview while on international duty with Scotland, the Villa captain revealed the reason for his positive and productive start to the season.
“It was the longer rest over the summer,” he told the Daily Record.
“I had two and a half weeks of pretty much doing nothing. Then I went to America and did my own individual training camp to try and get myself in better shape. I wanted to be fresh and ready to go for the new season.
“I had a good pre-season too. The start to the campaign for Villa hasn’t been perfect. But I feel in a good place now, and hopefully I can offer more.”
The former Hibernian midfielder is a senior player and has come of age in one of the most gruelling decades in football history. He admitted that the amount of football he’s played had been having an impact.
“Did I feel I had to reset? Aye, I think I just had to get that wee bit of spark back,” he added.
“I’ve played a lot of games over the past few seasons continuously. So you maybe lose a bit of sharpness and just kind of plod on.
“But for me to be at my best, I need to be sharp and help the team. I feel I’m back to that now. I’m obviously not getting any younger, so you try to let your body refresh.
“In the last couple of years, I’ve been full-on, but this year I got a good rest.”
Now 31, McGinn knows his fitness needs some management. Emery is looking after his captain in that regard and Villa are reaping the benefits.
“The manager at Villa has been good at giving me time off,” said McGinn. “I now feel as fit as I’ve ever been and hopefully it can carry on.”
McGinn won his 80th senior international cap against Greece on Thursday night and is hoping to help Scotland to qualify for next year’s World Cup.
Steve Clarke’s team have given themselves a great chance to qualify, picking up seven points from a possible nine thanks to wins over Belarus and Greece, and a draw with Denmark.
“In the first two Scotland games [against Denmark and Belarus] I feel like I offered more than I have in a while for my country, and hopefully that carries on,” said the Villa captain.
Scotland will play Belarus at Hampden Park on Sunday, the second of two crucial home matches this month. In their last two qualifiers they’ll play away in Greece and at home against Denmark.
They last played in the World Cup finals in France in 1998.
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