John McGinn: Hibs' Neil Lennon expects January bids for Nottingham Forest target

John McGinn has four Scotland caps

Hibernian head coach Neil Lennon anticipates further predatory bids for Scotland midfielder John McGinn during the January transfer window.

Nottingham Forest had a seven-figure offer rejected by the Scottish Premiership club last month.

"There's no question that, if he keeps progressing, there will be a number of other clubs coming in for him over the next six to 12 months," said Lennon.

"I would expect it. We'll deal with that if and when it materialises."

Forest, who had already paid more than £1m to buy Scotland Under-21 striker Jason Cummings from Hibs earlier this summer, failed in their attempt to add McGinn despite increasing their original offer of £750,000.

The 22-year-old, who joined Hibs from St Mirren in 2015, has since won his fourth Scotland cap after coming on as a substitute in the 3-0 World Cup qualifying win over Lithuania.

"Forest came back with a couple more offers, which were much more like it compared to the first one, so we respected that, we engaged with Forest, we told them our valuation of the player and that wasn't met," said Lennon.

"I was quite confident of holding on to John and, having spoke to him this morning, he's quite happy to keep his development going here.

Jason Cummings has scored three goals since joining Forest from Hibs

"He just needs to keep concentrating on developing his talent and making his game a bit more rounded.

"We know the value of John in today's market and it also shows that we are quite financially healthy that we can turn down these offers."

Lennon, who has signed a contract extension with Hibs until 2020, is pleased with the squad he has assembled after adding nine players since their promotion to the Scottish Premiership.

"We obviously lost Jason and we didn't want to lose John as well and we've recruited well," he said.

"We had offers for John that we stayed strong on and I'm pleased with that and I'm very pleased with the balance we've got now.

"They are a very good bunch. They have basically responded to everything I've asked them to do.

"The professionalism is good, the character in the squad is good and they are good footballers, so it has been really enjoyable working with them.

"They know that I'm demanding, but they expect the demands to be made of them and, at a club like this, you have to make demands. But, in the main, they have thrived on that."