John McGinn set to make Aston Villa return just in time for Scotland after surgery

McGinn had been a doubt for the national team’s double header due to the injury he sustained in January, but it has been revealed the Aston Villa captain is available for Thursday night’s Europa League last-16 match away at Lille.

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke is due to name his squad for the matches against Japan at Hampden on March 28 and Ivory Coast at Hill Dickinson Stadium on March 31 early next week. Capped 80 times by his country, McGinn is a mainstay of the current set-up and appears to have won his fitness race to be part of the group.

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery, whose side face Lille in the first leg before the return in Birmingham City on March 19, told a press conference on Wednesday night: “He’s here. It’s important, but every player is important.

“Maybe as a captain, as well, he is adding something more and he is coming back. We are happy and (will) try to recover his rhythm as soon as possible. But (on Thursday) he is here and he can play even in the beginning, or after.”

McGinn was taken off with the knee blow 18 minutes into a 1-0 defeat by Everton and required a minor operation to fix it. He has missed Villa’s last 10 matches in all competitions, of which they have won only four, taking eight points from their last seven in the Premier League. He could play four matches before reporting for Scotland duty - the two matches against Lille and English Premier League matches away at Manchester United and at home to West Ham.

Emery confirmed he would still be without defender Matty Cash, plus midfielders Boubacar Kamara and Youri Tielemans for the trip to Lille’s Stade Pierre-Mauroy. Cash sustained a knock in Villa’s recent 4-1 home league defeat to Chelsea, while Kamara’s season ended in January due to a knee injury and Tielemans (ankle) has also been out since the turn of the year.

Villa finished second behind Lyon in the Europa League’s league-phase table, winning seven and losing only one of their eight games. They are one of the favourites to win the competition.

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