The summer transfer window opened this week, officially marking the start of a busy few months for the club.
While the off-season is supposed to be a time to switch off and forget about the highs and lows of following Hibs, you’re never too far away from a transfer rumour or wondering when the new kits will be released.
Seriously though, when are the new kits getting released? Answer: the home kit came out this morning.
With Kevin Nisbet’s move to Millwall confirmed last week in a deal worth a reported £2m plus add-ons, Lee Johnson and Brian McDermott have their work cut out to mould a squad which is firstly fit for Europe, but secondly strong enough to build on last season and have a real shot at third place.
Croatian left back Marijan Čabraja departed Easter Road this week as his move to Rijeka was confirmed. A player who arrived with plenty of promise but who never seemed to recover following the sad passing of his father, Čabraja’s name was one of a few appearing on the ‘we need better’ wish lists of Hibs fans.
Aiden McGeady, Mikey Devlin and Kevin Dabrowski have left the club following the expiration of their contracts and loan signings Matthew Hoppe, Mykola Kukharevych, CJ Egan-Riley and Will Fish have returned to their parent clubs.
Club legend Darren McGregor also hung up his boots after a memorable Hibernian career to take up a role as Head Coach of the U18s.
Reports this week suggest centre back Fish could be nearing a return from Manchester United in a move which would please a lot of Hibs fans. It would be a signing – combined with the permanent arrival of Elie Youan – which would sound the starting gun for a really key period in Lee Johnson’s Hibs career.
After a shaky start and a right back appearance at Tynecastle to forget, Fish stepped into the gap left behind by Ryan Porteous in January in the centre of defence and quickly proved his worth to supporters alongside Paul Hanlon.
Elie Youan’s early season work with Martin Boyle gave reason for optimism before Boyle’s injury ended his year, but with the Australia international back on the grass at HTC in recent weeks the prospect of the two wingers joining forces again after the summer is something to look forward to with enthusiasm.
While European qualification is an important achievement for everyone at Hibs, there is plenty of room for improvement with cup failings and missing out on the top four still very fresh in the memory as attentions turn to 2023/24.
In Johnson’s defence he is still working with a squad filled with at least three other managers’ players and a group which has very much been quantity over quality for the last few years.
With Brian McDermott in place as the club’s Director of Football there are positive signs that a more streamlined, long-term, consistent approach to player signings will give Johnson and his staff a solid platform to build on as we work towards the first game of the new season – a UEFA Conference League second qualifying round tie at the end of July.
The biggest challenge for the club will be to move on some of the players contributing to a currently bloated first team group.
The likes of Daniel Mackay, Dylan Tait, Allan Delferriere, Christian Doidge, Nohan Kenneh and Elias Melkersen have returned to the Hibernian squad after spells on loan and it’ll be important for decisions to be made on their futures early in order to find balance for the club and the players themselves.
With lots of players slightly-too-old-to-be-classed-as-young and not making an impact on the pitch in any meaningful way it’s clear there are plenty with more than a year left on their contracts who will be difficult to offload on a permanent basis. That is Brian McDermott’s first key challenge.
In order to create room in the squad there will almost certainly need to be a significant number of outs to facilitate the improvement in quality we are all hoping for in the form of summer signings.
While Nisbet’s move felt inevitable, he is not one of the players who fans were hoping to see the back of this month and his departure creates a sizeable hole at the forefront of the team.
Lee Johnson has spoken publicly about his ambitions for the loan market and his relationship with the City Group, but Hibs fans will be hoping to see plenty of permanent arrivals in addition to loans in order to give us all a long-term vision for the side.
There are places up for grabs in the starting XI all over the pitch, and the next six weeks will set the tone for what’s to come in the new season.
Here’s hoping things get off to a positive start in the next couple of weeks as pre-season gets underway.
The East Stand 