HOUSTON – Owen Coyle could be looking towards his former home for his next signing.
John McGinn, a Scottish youth international, is in camp with Coyle’s Houston Dynamo. The 20-year-old’s contract with Scottish Premier League club St. Mirren recently ended, and the midfielder is looking for a new landing spot.
On Tuesday the Dynamo head coach addressed reports out of the UK that McGinn is in Houston to continue talks and potentially finalize a deal with the club.
“John’s a terrific young player, he’s an outstanding young player and he’s one I’d like to have here at Houston Dynamo; that goes without saying,” Coyle told MLSsoccer.com. “The issue with that is that we don’t, at this moment in time, have an international slot or roster space. That’s where we’re at, at the moment. If we’re able to manage a couple of those and some movement happened then we would obviously look to do something.”
Houston would have to open up or acquire an international spot in order to ink McGinn. With the Scottish U-21 captain out of contract, the Dynamo would be able to sign him without paying a transfer fee. McGinn is scheduled to remain in Houston training through the end of the week.
If Houston manage to land the Glasgow native, they’ll add to a midfield that got a boost last week with the signature of 24-year-old Nigerian Rasheed Olabiyi.
“It’s given him the opportunity to come over here and look around Houston and see what we’re all about,” Coyle said. “We know his level, myself and [assistant coach Sandy Stewart]… he knows John extensively. This boy’s played [87] games in the [Scottish] Premier League and he’s only 20 years of age. In Scotland he’s an Under-20 international. It allows him obviously training as well. He’s a fantastic young player.”
McGinn made 87 appearances for the St. Mirren first team in the three seasons. He reportedly turned down the opportunity to stay with St. Mirren and is reportedly being chased by Coyle’s old club Wigan Athletic as well as Scottish clubs Hearts, Hibernian and Dundee United.
McGinn is leaving St. Mirren under somewhat odd circumstances, with the player bringing legal action against the club over an incident that saw him speared in the thigh by a training stick thrown by a teammate during a practice session last year. McGinn and his teammates were participating in a dribbling exercise when club captain Steven Thompson jokingly threw a training pole towards McGinn – the pole hit the midfielder, who ended up missing the final six weeks of the season due to the injuries sustained.
Darrell Lovell covers the Houston Dynamo for MLSsoccer.com.
