Hibernian sign John McGinn for undisclosed fee from St Mirren

John McGinn boosts Hibernian's midfield options

Hibernian have completed the signing of midfielder John McGinn on a four-year contract after agreeing a development fee with his former club, St Mirren.

The 20-year-old had rejected the offer of a new contract with the Paisley club after their relegation.

He said he had considered other offers before joining the Buddies' Scottish Championship rivals.

"Once I weighed it all up, I quickly realised that Hibs was the right move for me at this stage," he said.

"The manager is really ambitious and I wanted to be part of his plans to move Hibs forward and get the club back into the Premiership.

"I'm still a young player and I believe Alan Stubbs will help me to develop into becoming a better player."

Head coach Stubbs told Hibs' website he was "thrilled" to secure the Scotland Under-21 international.

"His arrival symbolises our ambitions for the future," he said.

"He is an extremely talented young player with huge potential and I'm looking forward to seeing John continue his development here at Hibernian.

"John had other options, so we're really pleased that he has chosen Hibernian and the aim is for him to achieve his career goals at our club."

On Thursday, Stubbs was adamant that McGinn should not be viewed as a replacement for Scott Allan, who has handed in a transfer request.

Allan remains central to Stubbs' plans despite asking to leave the club

The 23-year-old has been told that he will not be sold to a direct rival after the Easter Road club rejected two bids from Rangers.

"People will ask, is it a statement, but it's just the club looking to sign good players," Stubbs said of the bid for McGinn, who held talks with Houston Dynamo earlier this summer.

Stubbs and his coaching team signed new contract extensions on Wednesday and the former Celtic and Everton defender insists neither the deal or its timing is in any way related to Rangers' pursuit of Allan.

"It's a separate issue," said the 43-year-old, who is embarking on his second season at Easter Road.

"I know people have tried to link it to that, but the position with Scott has not changed and it won't.

"People have tried to link it, that I've held the club to ransom, but that's very wrong and very unfair.

"We've been in negotiations for a number of weeks, a couple of months actually. I wanted to make sure that we signed all the players we wanted to sign and mine would take care of itself."

Allan has a year to run on his Hibs contract and Stubbs is sure last season's Championship Player of the Year can continue to make a positive contribution.

"I understand Scott's position completely, I don't dismiss it one bit," he explained. "I understand where he's coming from, but people have to respect the position of the football club."

Chief executive Leeann Dempster added: "Scott has every right to put in a transfer request and the club has every right to reject it. He's still a Hibernian player, we will continue to look after him and he's still a very big part of our squad here."