CELTIC and Nottingham Forest have become the two front-runners to sign the highly rated Hibs midfielder John McGinn.

The Edinburgh based midfield sensation has been getting better throughout this season and perhaps vindicated Neil Lennon’s preference to keep him at Easter Road to develop.

However, Brendan Rodgers has been aware of the player since last January and has kept tabs on John since. Celtic stopped short of a bid in the summer after they managed to convince Stuart Armstrong on for another year at least whereas Forest had three bids rejected.

Mark Warburton, the man with the magic hat was keen to take the Scottish International down south with him. Hibs rebuffed a bid of £2million just before the window shut but Warbs is still keen on the player and will come back in during the January window.

Hibs will always be reluctant to sell one of their best players, but as always everyone has a price. It remains to be seen if Celtic will want to pay over the £2million mark for the player who scored a brace at Celtic Park earlier this season.

Brendan Rodgers is a huge proponent of Scottish players in the Celtic side and has never been shy about the fact there should be a good Scottish base.

In other transfer news, Celtic target Liam Moore refused to rule out a move to Celtic in the summer. Speaking yesterday the Englishman said he would just remain focused on Reading until January.