Inverness CT v Hibs: 'Cool' Tynecastle trip drew Junior Agogo to Hibs

Although he spent most of his childhood in London, Agogo was born in Accra, the capital of Ghana. He has won 27 caps for his national side, and at one time played alongside the former Hearts midfielder Laryea Kingston. "Larry told me all about Scottish football," Agogo said. "I came up to see him play in a game against Celtic and it was a good game to come to.

"There was a lot of passion. it was a nice stadium and the intensity of the game was really cool. I enjoyed it."

Although a thigh strain picked up in training has ruled him out of action for a week or two, Agogo should be back to match fitness in time for the first Edinburgh derby of the season, at Tynecastle at the end of next month. "I didn't get to come to see one, but I have learned a lot about it," he said. "I'll know about it soon enough."

Including loan spells, the Ghanaian, who turns 32 on Monday, has been with 15 clubs since he began his professional career in 1997 with Sheffield Wednesday. The Yorkshire club were in the Premiership then, packed full of stars, and the teenaged Agogo soon realised that he would need to move on if he wanted regular first-team football.

"It was a nice experience, but there were a lot of big hitters when I was there at the time. They had David Hurst, Paulo di Canio, Benito Carbone . . . . a lot of world-class players. It was a good experience for me, because I was only 18 when I made my debut.

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"I didn't really see myself playing in front of those guys, so I had an opportunity to go and play in the MLS (in the USA]. Why not? If it didn't work out then I could at least say I had tried it.

"I played with some world-class players and was there for almost three years. I came back to England from America because I was young and I missed my family."

That was in 2002, when he joined Queens Park Rangers. He moved on to Barnet and Bristol Rovers before in 2006 going on to Forest. where he met up with his current manager. He stayed there until Zamalek of Egypt came calling two years later, then in 2009 he moved to Cypriot club Apollon Limassol, his last port of call before Leith.

So he rarely remains in the one place for long, and, having only signed a one-year deal with Hibs, has little time in which to make an impression if he wants to extend his stay in Edinburgh.Doing so, however, should be no problem if he gets anywhere close to the form he showed in 2008, when, as part of the Ghana squad which reached the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, he earned that move to Zamalek, probably the biggest club on the continent. Although for the moment he is still a relatively low-profile figure in Scotland, his exploits with the Black Stars turned him into a celebrity back home - though he dismissed as very wide of the remark one article which labelled him 'the David Beckham of Ghana'.

"I wish I had his bank-balance. It's like that for anyone who plays for the national team, you know. It was nice to play in a tournament based in your country (in 2008]. We had the fans behind us, but unluckily we didn't get to the final.

"It was nice to score a few goals to help my team. The whole experience will always be in my mind and heart - good times. We lost to Cameroon 1-0. I think we should have maybe got to the final, but it's football; it happens."

After playing in the majority of qualifying games for last year's World Cup, Agogo needed surgery for a knee injury just a few weeks before the squad was announced, so missed out on playing in South Africa. With the Africa Cup coming round again at the start of next year, however, he is hopeful of playing his way back into contention over the coming months.

"I'll be back as soon as possible," he said. "I want to be out there playing. But I want to go out when I'm 100 per cent and not let myself or anyone else down, that's for sure. Trust me, I'll be back as soon as possible."