McGill goes from meeting Messi to moving to MK Dons
MK Dons’ latest signing Tom McGill has had a summer to remember
It has been quite a summer, and indeed quite a few weeks for MK Dons’ new signing Tom McGill.
The 24-year-old’s season-long loan move from Brighton & Hove Albion was confirmed on Wednesday, finally allowing the dust to settle on what has been a hectic and eye-catching few months for the shot-stopper.
Born to a Canadian father and an English mother, McGill opted to represent the Canucks on the international stage, and as such was a member of the 26-man Copa America squad as third choice keeper to compete in the USA.
Former Leeds boss Jesse Marsch led the Canadian side through a very difficult group, which also featured Argentina, Chile and Peru, with a win, a loss and a draw to setup a quarter-final clash against Venezuela. Playing out a 1-1 draw, the match went to sudden-death penalties, but saw McGill and his Canadian team-mates into the final four, where they would face Argentina for a second time.
The Canadians though would suffer a second 2-0 defeat to the eventual winners of the competition, with goals from Julian Alvarez and Lionel Messi sending them into the final.
McGill said: “I was away in the Copa Amercia - we qualified out of the group stage, won the quarters on penalties but went out in the semi-finals to Argentina. We had to play them twice on that side of the tournament! But it was amazing. I shook Messi's hand, that's pretty cool!”
Canada would miss out on penalties in the third place play-off to Uruguay before McGill would return back to Brighton. But his time there would be short-lived. Following Dons' return from their German training camp in the last few days, the move for McGill picked up pace, with the keeper arriving in Milton Keynes over the weekend to finalise the move.
And with four pre-season games remaining before the season kicks off in a few weeks against Bradford City, McGill hopes he can get a few games under his belt with his new team-mates as soon as possible.
He said: "I have been in the hotel for a couple of days, but there has been a bit of a rush to get the deal done with a few pre-season games still to play before the start of the season. We want to make sure we get a few games in before the start."