Hibs sporting director Graeme Mathie is counting on Liverpool firming up their interest in Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn.

The midfielder has excelled for Aston Villa since his move from Easter Road in 2018, establishing himself at the top-flight.

The Athletic reports "bidding would have to start at £45million to £50million" for Villa to entertain the thought of their talisman leaving.

Hibs have a sell-on fee of around 15 per cent which could see the Scottish Premiership side pocket millions from any potential sale.

Hibs sporting director Mathie said: “Every time there is a link I send it to his agent with praying hand emojis saying 'Is there any chance this summer could be the time we get a bit of a sell-on?'

“He always comes back with laughing emojis and doesn't tell me too much.

"But fair play to John, I think you can see at Euro 2020 with Scotland he has gone and played against some of the best players in the league again and shown and done well. So it's no surprise he is being linked with these types of moves.

“We had both his brothers, Stephen and Paul, here last year.

"They speak about how affectionate he is about Aston Villa and how big a club it is so it can probably only be one of the top four or five teams in the country that John could feasibly leave Aston Villa to go and join.

“When I saw the Liverpool link I thought 'That's one that could be quite interesting' and if it goes for the numbers quoted I have already done my calculations to see how much Hibs are getting out of it.

"It was a relatively big calculator I needed, that's for sure."