Hibs striker situation assessed amid Kevin Nisbet interest as loanee to be 'welcomed back with open arms'

Lee Johnson doesn’t consider Elias Melkersen’s loan spell at Sparta Rotterdam a waste of time and he is fairly sure that the player is of the same mind.

Elias Melkersen will return to Hibs this summer after an unfruitful loan spell at Sparta Rotterdam. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

But whether the Norwegian will be able to return to Easter Road for the pre-season and put the experience he has gained to good use and convince his manager he can be relied on to deliver up front for Hibs is another matter. He isn’t the only one in that category.

And, with Millwall again expressing interest in Kevin Nisbet and others likely to come knocking if the contract keeps running down and his price tag, consequently, keeps dropping, there could be a significant striking vacancy up.

Despite the imminent departure of young Ethan Laidlaw, and loanee Mykola Kuharevych’s return to parent club O-H Leuven, there are still forwards on Hibs’ books.

Kevin Nisbet could depart Hibs this summer amid renewed interest from Millwall. (Photo by Ewan Bootman / SNS Group)

But outwith Elie Youan, who converted his loan stay into a permanent contract before the end of the campaign, none of them have been in the scoring form that inspires bucketloads of confidence, with Johnson likely more inclined to try to move them on than base his European and domestic hopes on them.

Martin Boyle will be welcomed back into the team when fully rehabilitated from his knee injury, but that may be too much to expect for others like Melkersen and Christian Doidge, whose season-long spell at Kilmarnock saw him produce six goals in 41 games. Hardly the numbers of the Welshman in his Hibs heyday and certainly not the tally Johnson will be requiring from whoever is spearheading his team.

"I spoke to Elias on Zoom recently; it was good to talk to him. I like Melks; he's a great lad, a great professional. Obviously he hasn't played [for Sparta Rotterdam]; he's gone out there to get minutes and he hasn't got minutes. But what I do know is that it's not been wasted. A lot of technical work has been done with him and I think that's a real strength of the Dutch coaching system.”

Sparta face Utrecht in the first leg of the Eredivisie Europa League play-off semi finals tonight but with just two appearances for the Dutch side since joining them in January, Hibs’ 20-year-old forward is unlikely to feature.

"I still think he's enjoyed it, he's experienced another level of football. He also appreciates, I suppose, the minutes he does get…it's another strong experience for a young player.”

Unable to assert himself at the start of the season, when he made 17 appearances - only eight of them starts - he contributed just one goal, against lowly Clyde in the Viaplay Cup group stages. But a year older, with more experience, he will be given the opportunity to convince Johnson he deserves a bigger role.

"Melkersen is our player. Sparta do have an option to buy him but I wouldn't have thought it would be executed based on the fact he hasn't had as many minutes as he might have hoped.

"Therefore we will welcome him back with open arms and we'll see how he goes. I suppose the option is for him to fight and compete for his place, or go out on another loan."

But they will have to find a greater goal threat from somewhere. Boyle should help in that department and Josh Campbell contributed well from midfield and will be asked to build on that side of his game, as will others across the middle of the park - most notably Kyle Magennis if he can stay fit.

Although there has been talk of Harry McKirdy heading into the new season with a proper pre-season behind him and a clean slate, his shooting boots better deliver early on or that patience is going to quickly run out.

This term Melkersen and Doidge believed they had more to offer than to see out the season as benchwarmers and bit-part players. The loan spells were intended to prove that and have Johnson looking on admiringly from afar but neither produced the consistent displays or goal tallies that would have had the Leith gaffer pining for them.

Those he replaced them with were a mixed bag and he will need to trade up this term, especially if Nisbet is to leave in the summer, or during the season.

Kuharevich managed five goals in 15 appearances, and is one of the loan players who could be welcomed back if his Belgian employers are open to the idea but Matthew Hoppe, although not useless, was not useful enough with just one goal in nine.

Both those players were among the nine who headed out the door at the end of the season.

Those numbers included Mikey Devlin, who has signed up with Livingston, injured winger Aiden McGeady and goalkeeper Kevin Dabrowski, both of whom were out of contract, as well as two youngsters, Tom Carter and Josh McCulloch. Loan players CJ Egan-Riley and Will Fish can be added into the mix but the club are doing all they can to try to lure them both back for the new season, having been impressed by how well they settled into the Scottish top flight and grew in stature the longer the season progressed.

McGeady was the big name acquisition of last summer and given his age and his injury background Johnson accepted that he was a bit of a gamble. There was a period mid-season, when fit, when the 37-year-old illustrated why that chance had been taken but it did not pay off when a hamstring issue ended his season prematurely. But the guile, pace - mental and physical - in the final third is something they will seek out again.

Johnson, while declaring himself content with the season, provided Cetic can deliver the Scottish Cup result Hibs require to give them a shot at European football, knows that there is a lot of work still to be done. And, that final third of the pitch is always pivotal.