'It is mental' - John McGinn lauds Aston Villa team-mate as one of Europe's most under-rated players

Skipper McGinn grabbed the headlines with his first Villa brace since 2019 but afterward directed praise toward Kamara, who he believes is one of the most under-rated players in Europe.

The 26-year-old joined on a free transfer from Marseille in the summer of 2022 and McGinn told BBC WM: “I’ve said it many times, I look at the France squad getting announced every time and the fact he doesn’t get near it is mental.

“It speaks about their quality, but we are very fortunate to have one of the most under-rated players in Europe.

“Bouba is not only brilliant off the ball, but what a footballer he is and for us to get him on a free transfer was one of the best pieces of business this club has ever done.”

McGinn scored twice in the second half, either side of Morgan Gibbs-White’s strike for the visitors, after Ollie Watkins had opened the scoring in the final seconds of the first period.

The win means Villa are now on their longest run of consecutive home wins since 1990 and remain just six points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal.

But McGinn played down talk of a possible title challenge and said: “The manager is keen on us plodding on. What we have is a good group with no egos. 

“We fly under the radar a lot of the time, but if things carry on then there will be a lot more spoken about us. 

“We are an experienced group. I’m 31, Ollie (Watkins) is 30. We’ve got players who have been around the block, more than other teams.

“We don’t get carried away, the same as on Tuesday night (at Arsenal). We didn’t get carried away after losing 4-1. It’s easy to look at the table and get excited, but we’re not doing that.”

McGinn’s goals were his first since early October and he joked it would hopefully get Emery “off his back” after explaining the manager has demanded he get into more scoring positions.

After converting Matty Cash’s cross for his first, the Scotland international then fired into an empty net after a blunder by visiting goalkeeper John Victor.

“The first one is something we have been working on, because the manager has been very tough on me to get in those positions to add more goals to my game,” he said. “It’s a great ball from Cashy and I managed to get on it.

“The second one, I just didn’t want to get clattered by Milenkovic, so that’s why I controlled it and I saw the (goalkeeper’s) yellow jersey and thought: ‘What is he doing here’. 

“That’s how I managed to get space and find the back of the net.”