Hibs face new season with 14 first-team stars in final year of contracts

Skipper Chris Hogg heads the lengthy list which also includes World Cup-bound defender Sol Bamba and strikers Derek Riordan and Colin Nish, who claimed 29 goals between them in the season just ended. And with boss John Hughes having declined to offer new deals to Abdessalm Benjelloun, Yves Ma-Kalambay, Patrick Cregg and Darren McCormack, only five of the current squad will be under contract when the coming season ends: Mark Brown, Ian Murray, Paul Hanlon, Anthony Stokes and David Wotherspoon.

Hughes has made no secret of the fact he'll be seeking to strengthen his squad before Hibs enter the Europa League with their first match on 29 July, the Easter Road manager having revealed he'll be looking to add both a physical presence and experience to his squad.

The news that so many stars – the others are goalkeepers Graham Stack and Graeme Smith, Steven Thicot, Kevin McCann, Liam Miller, Kevin McBride, John Rankin, Merouane Zemmama, Danny Galbraith and Kurtis Byrne – are nearing the end of their contracts at the same time will certainly dismay the Hibs support.

But, equally, there's little doubt that chairman Rod Petrie will also be busy as he bids to negotiate new deals with many of those players who will be free to talk to other clubs when the January transfer window opens.

Hibs already know Bamba, Riordan and Nish are said to be attracting the attention of other clubs, although no bids have been made as yet to test the Edinburgh outfit's resolve as to whether to cash in now or run the risk of losing them for nothing in a year's time.