The Motherwell midfielder was called up this week ahead of two clashes against Greece in the Nations League and revealed that he thinks he can become one of the best players in the squad.
"I'm obviously not going to go in and be the best player there, but I believe I could maybe in a couple of months be the best player there," the 18-year-old said when he found out he was in the squad.”
Aston Villa captain McGinn laughed down these comments and recalled making similar remarks when he was just a player coming through the ranks all those years ago under manager Gordon Strachan.
"He's probably thinking - why did I say that? But I said plenty of stupid things when I was coming through at St Mirren
"I remember Charlie Adam did an interview on my first day from Stoke's training ground asking why there were Scottish Championship players getting called up, which wasn't too helpful at the time," McGinn recalled.
"I don't think he was aiming it at me individually or personally. Just the timing of it was a bit of a disaster as I was already a bit nervous and star-struck. So, at my first lunch at Mar Hall, all the experienced boys were getting right on me, like, 'you shouldn't be in the squad'.
He said he was grateful to Strachan who showed faith in him which has helped carve out an incredibly successful career so far.
"I will always be grateful to Gordon Strachan for giving me that opportunity and he flung me right in for my debut that week," he said.
"There was a lot of pressure on me and I felt it a little bit, but I remember that first game next to Broony (Scott Brown). Little nuggets of wisdom during the game, support before the game, and you start to feel at home."
McGinn then backed up young stars such as Miller and suggested that they are here to make an immediate impact, not watch from the sidelines.
"They are not here to make the numbers up," McGinn added.
"They are here to take our places if they, eventually, are better than the ones who are here. He definitely has the ability to do so and so does James."