Bamba bides his time for Hibs first-team call

Published on Wednesday 3 September 2008 09:44

SOL BAMBA knows that he may have to be patient to win a place in the Hibs starting line-up but the big defender insisted that it was still an easy decision to join the Easter Road side.

The former Dunfermline player put pen to paper on a two-year deal with Hibs on transfer deadline day after a proposed move to Watford failed to materialise.

The 23-year-old is keen to play at the highest level possible and was delighted to instead make the switch from the First Division to the SPL with Mixu Paatelainen's side.

He accepts that Rob Jones and Chris Hogg are the Finn's first-choice pairing in the centre of defence right now but is hoping to convince him otherwise in the coming months with some hard shifts in training.

Bamba said: "I am happy and also very surprised because I had no idea that I would be coming here.

"I was very disappointed when Watford said that they were not going to take me but that is all behind me now and I am just looking forward to getting started.

"When I heard that Hibs wanted me it was an easy decision to make because they are a big club and I want to play at the highest level that I can.

"I am going to work hard every day in training and I know that I need to be patient. I am still young but if the gaffer gives me my chance then I hope to take it.

"I know that I am going to be under more pressure here, but I like that. I know that I need to get more experience, I am still young, I am 23, but I am going to try my best to play every game and stay in the team."

Bamba tied up the move to Easter Road just days after returning from the Olympics with Ivory Coast, where they reached the quarter-finals only to lose 2-0 to Nigeria.

He spent the three weeks rubbing shoulders with the likes of Lionel Messi after staying in the same hotel as Argentina, Serbia and Australia and the defender added: "We got to the quarter-finals when we lost to Nigeria. We played two games in Shanghai, we didn't play in Beijing because that is where the semi-final and the finals were held.

"I thought that we did very well because no-one really thought that we would get that far.

"It was disappointing because we felt that we could have beaten Nigeria."