In between that time, the experienced playmaker has had an illustrious career, playing overseas, in the Premier League, Champions League and at major international tournaments.
Read the full story on Aiden McGeady's career so far and his journey to Easter Road!
Born in Rutherglen, Scotland, McGeady began his footballing career in his teenage years at Celtic FC and progressed steadily through the ranks during the early 2000s before making his debut aged 18 in April 2004 – scoring against Hearts in a 1-1 draw at Tynecastle.
That was the start of a successful career with the Hoops, where he scored 37 goals and supplied 48 assists in over 250 games for the Glasgow side. During his seven seasons at Celtic, he won four Scottish Premier League titles, two Scottish Cups and the Scottish League Cup.
Individually he won the SPFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year Awards in the 2007/08 campaign, becoming only the second player to win both awards in the same season.
In August 2010, McGeady moved to Russian side Spartak Moscow, for a Scottish record transfer fee at the time of nearly £10 million. The winger spent the best part of four seasons in the Russian capital, where he played Champions League football and scored 13 times and created 28 goals during his 93 appearances for the club.
At the age of 27, McGeady returned to the UK to join English Premier League side Everton in January 2014. The Republic of Ireland international played 43 times for the Toffees in three years.
In a bid to get more regular playing time, he moved to English Championship side Sheffield Wednesday for six months before joining Preston North End on a season-long loan.
It was at Preston where McGeady rekindled his best form after getting a consistent run of games in the team under manager, Simon Grayson. In 35 games he scored eight times and picked up nine assists, winning the Preston North End Player of the Year award at the end of the 2016/17 campaign.
Following a successful spell with Preston, McGeady signed for Sunderland in the summer of 2017, once again joining up with Grayson.
The Irish international had two successful years with the Black Cats before joining Charlton Athletic on loan in January 2020. McGeady returned to Sunderland that summer and under the new leadership of Lee Johnson, he sparked back into life.
The new Hibs boss clearly got the best out of the winger at the Stadium of Light and he excelled in their first season working together – scoring six goals and contributing 17 assists as he was named in the 2020/21 EFL League One Team of the Season.
The following season McGeady was part of the squad that helped gain Sunderland promotion to the English Championship before he was released at the end of the season.
Internationally, the winger has had an extremely polished career – representing his country 93 times, making him eighth on the all-time record appearance list. McGeady, who qualifies to play for the Republic of Ireland through his grandparents, scored five times, added 12 assists and played at both EURO 2012 and EURO 2016 for his country.
At EURO 2012 he scored the Republic of Ireland’s only goal of the competition during a 3-1 defeat to Croatia in Poznan.
Now, McGeady is reunited with his former manager, Lee Johnson at Easter Road and will fly out with the squad for our pre-season training camp in Portugal.