The summer transfer window came to a close in dramatic style on Thursday night as Hibs left it late to secure the services of three players on the last day.
With a huge turnover of players since the end of last season there has been a lot to digest for Hibs fans, with 14 new faces walking in the main doors of East Mains to join Lee Johnson’s first team squad.
As with any transfer window there’s been a mixed bag of recruits, with lots of permanent signings supplemented by a couple of late loans to fill the spaces. It’s a feature of the club in recent years that we have opted to stay away from traditional stop-gap loan deals where possible, and when they have been used the majority have included the option to make the deal permanent.
So, how did we get on this summer?
Highlights
There were some really positive signings during the summer window, with a handful of players joining the club who have caught the imagination of the fans and who look to really strengthen our starting XI.
David Marshall has been an instant upgrade in goal. His shot stopping, leadership qualities and, most noticeably, his ability with the ball at his feet mean he is a real step up from Matt Macey who was the club’s number one last season.
Marijan Čabraja has become a popular figure amongst the fanbase already, with the big Croatian filling in the gap left by Josh Doig’s move to Hellas Verona. Čabraja looks strong, quick and has an eagerness to join in with attacks down the left side. He looks like a really solid addition to the squad and appears to be a solid piece of business.
Moving further up the pitch, the club have recruited a brand-new forward line over the summer with the arrivals of Élie Youan, Harry McKirdy and the return of Martin Boyle. All three will add pace and ability in the final third and will excite supporters – time will tell how they work together if deployed as a three but early signs have suggested there’s a lot of potential with Youan and Boyle linking well at Easter Road already this term.
With Kevin Nisbet still working on his comeback from injury and Christian Doidge yet to get back to his best – and subsequently being loaned to Kilmarnock for the season – we were in need of a goal scorer and it appears that we have got our man with the last gasp capture of Harry McKirdy on deadline day.
Question Marks
With so many players in the door there are a lot who have either not had enough gametime to fully integrate themselves in the team or who have not yet found their feet in the Scottish Premiership.
Nohan Kenneh has shown signs of what he was brought to the club to do in spells, with a solid performance in the Edinburgh derby at Easter Road alongside Joe Newell, but he has fallen out of the team in recent weeks.
Given time he has the attributes to be an important figure in a 4-2-3-1 alongside another midfielder but his defensive tendencies mean he may feature more in games where we expect to be on the back foot.
Aiden McGeady arrived with pedigree and his ability on the ball has rarely been in question since he signed on at Easter Road. Question marks were always around his age and fitness levels, and with a couple of injury ravaged spells in recent years the big challenge was always likely keeping him fit and in the team.
McGeady is currently on the sidelines with a fractured foot which will see him miss at least a couple of months of the season – not an ideal start to life as a Hibs player for the Ireland international but with a bit of luck McGeady will be available for selection ahead of the World Cup break.
A 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 would appear to suit the former Celtic and Sunderland winger, with the ability to go on his left or right foot meaning even if he has lost a yard of pace his trickery is enough to get by opposition defenders. He should be a real asset in attack as long as he can stay fit following his return from his current injury.
Lewis Miller, Momodou Bojang and Jair Tavares have found minutes hard to come by so far this season with supporters yet to be convinced by their abilities to make a meaningful impact in our first team.
The three players are all adapting to life in a new country and football in a new league so their slow starts are maybe to be expected but the jury is still out as to their potential impact in the first team squad.
With Christian Doidge departing on loan, the club moved to sign a more Doidge-like striker with the addition of Ukrainian Mykola Kukharevych on loan until the end of the season. A signing out of nowhere in the final hours of deadline day, with all of the focus on Harry McKirdy – Kukharevych arrives with very little expectations and could prove to be a unlikely bonus.
Alternatively, he could turn out to be the next Valdas Trakys or big Davy – but we’ll wait and see.
Missed Opportunities
With so many players brought into the club over the last three months it was disappointing to see us rushing around just minutes before the midnight deadline on Thursday to secure the services of three more players.
There was much reported about the Harry McKirdy situation on deadline day with very little in the way of concrete reporting around the reasons why the transfer was held up for so long. His signing was rubber stamped by FIFA yesterday and all’s well that ends well in that case – but it didn’t do much for the heart rates or sanity of supporters sitting up to see confirmation of his arrival from Swindon.
As a club we have been in need of central defensive reinforcements for years. While Rocky Bushiri arrived on a permanent basis from Norwich City the squad was still short at centre half, particularly on the left side with Paul Hanlon the only left footed central defender at the club.
Failing to recruit a ready-made, left sided centre back is a huge missed opportunity and something which resulted in the loan signing of Will Fish from Manchester United in the last hours of the transfer window.
While supporters will reserve judgement on the abilities of Fish until he has played for the club, the signing is symbolic of the failure to properly recruit a new central defender. With Rocky Bushiri out of action for a couple of months we are heavily reliant on Paul Hanlon – who is just back from a long-term injury himself – and Ryan Porteous to carry the burden every week.
If either of these players are unavailable for selection we are left with a choice between new recruit Fish, who has played three professional games in his career and was recalled by Manchester United following a lack of game time at then-non-league Stockport County last season, semi-retired Darren McGregor or youngster Kyle McLelland who was brought in primarily for the development team.
Bushiri’s recent injury is unfortunate but it doesn’t take away from the fact we needed another centre half even before his issue was confirmed.
A penny for Kyle McLelland’s thoughts too, who has seen an untested 19-year-old drafted in to fill a gap in defence while we have our own untested (McLelland has more first team experience than Fish) 20-year-old watching on.
Supporters were also surprised to see no additions to the midfield in the final weeks of the transfer window. Numbers-wise the squad is pretty heavy in the middle of the pitch but we are heavy with players who have contributed to the dismissals of two managers in less than a year.
We’re still to strike the right balance in midfield, with a combination of three from Joe Newell, Jake Doyle-Hayes, Josh Campbell and Nohan Kenneh still unable to get into any sort of groove this season.
Defensively we have been left wanting in the majority of games so far, with only two clean sheets – against Clyde and St Johnstone – achieved in competitive matches in 2022/23.
At the other end of the pitch, we have struggled to turn possession into shots on target and goals – with 70% possession last weekend at St Mirren equating to one shot on goal. While this doesn’t lie solely at the door of the midfield, we do appear to be struggling to create good chances for our attacking players and with heavy investment in the forward line over the summer this will need to improve if we are hoping to achieve anything in the league this year.
Kyle Magennis has returned to training in the last couple of weeks but it feels like he gets better and better in the minds of Hibs fans with every passing weekend. Magennis returning to the first team picture would be an undoubted boost to the squad and our options in midfield but his comeback does not miraculously fix all of our issues and it’s a big gamble to rest our hopes on the number seven.
The permanent arrival of Ewan Henderson has given him more responsibility in the chance-creation department and fans will be looking to see more from him over the coming weeks as Lee Johnson continues to try and find a solution to our midfield worries.
Overall, it’s been a busy window at Easter Road, but time will tell how many of the new additions will make a real difference to the starting XI. An overhaul was required and an overhaul of the squad is what we’ve achieved – but as yet that change in personnel is not having a huge impact on first team selections.
Out of 14 new signings – with Rocky and Henderson making their loan stays permanent – it appears we have recruited five or six who are ready to make a real difference at first team level at this early stage of the season, which doesn’t feel like a wholly successful strike rate given the woeful levels of performance seen at times last season which resulted in an 8th place finish and saw the end of two managers.
Here’s hoping the new signings can give the squad a boost and help the club start a positive run of results in the league in the coming weeks.
Transfer Summary
| Players in | Players Out |
| David Marshall | Matt Macey |
| Marijan Čabraja | David Mitchell |
| Rocky Bushiri | Paul McGinn |
| Lewis Miller | Josh Doig |
| Kyle McLelland | Harry Clarke |
| Nohan Kenneh | Sean Mackie |
| Ewan Henderson | Drey Wright |
| Martin Boyle | Jamie Murphy |
| Aiden McGeady | Alex Gogic |
| Jair Tavares | Scott Allan |
| Harry McKirdy | Christian Doidge (Loan) |
| Élie Youan (Loan) | Dylan Tait (Loan) |
| Momodou Bojang (Loan) | Dan Mackay (Loan) |
| Ryan Schofield (Loan) | Runar Hauge (Loan) |
| Mykola Kukharevych (Loan) | |
| Will Fish (Loan) |
The East Stand 