Kevin Nisbet staying put as Birmingham City pull the plug on negotiations with Hibs

Kevin Nisbet will not be leaving Hibs in this transfer window.

Kevin Nisbet, whose proposed switch to Birmingham City failed to materialise, trained with his Hibs team-mates ahead of their Tuesday night league match against St Mirren. Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group

The 23-year-old striker had submitted a transfer request and appealed directly to owner Ron Gordon in the hope of pushing a deal with Birmingham City over the line but the English Championship side have finally pulled the plug on the protracted affair and Nisbet will now see out the remainder of the season at the Easter Road club.

Birmingham had lodged what they insisted was their final bid on Sunday but Hibs rejected the deal which was worth around £2.3m with £500,000 of add ons. A personal plea from Nisbet, who signed for £250,000 from Dunfermline in the summer, had prompted hopes that a deal could still be salvaged as City were convinced to extend their own deadline. But, further talks have broken down and City have taken their proposal off the table, ending the chances of Nisbet making a big-money move before the end of the season.

The striker, who has scored 13 goals for the side currently sitting fourth in the Premiership, had trained with Hibs at their East Mains training camp this morning, as Jack Ross’ men prepared for tomorrow’s important trip to Paisley to face St Mirren.

In the wake of the on again, off again deal, it is now a question of how well the striker will deal with the tribulations of the past few days and whether the manager will conclude he is in the right frame of mind to include him in that match day squad.

Nisbet was left on the bench as Hibs defeated Dundee United on Saturday. But he was on the scoresheet as the capital side beat Jim Goodwin’s men in Paisley earlier in the season and he also grabbed the winner when the two teams met just before Christmas.

Hibs are currently sitting one point behind third-placed Aberdeen and six points behind Celtic, who are second.

With Nisbet staying with the Leith club, they are expected to drop their interest in St Johnstone forward Callum Hendry.

They had explored the possibility of bringing the son of former Scotland star Colin to the club on a loan deal until the end of the season.

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