Star’s Swansea City to Hibs transfer explained as ex-Hearts ace suffers serious injury
Striker Mykola Kukharevych has revealed the reasons behind his decision to return to Hibs on a season-long loan move from English Championship club Swansea City.
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Hide AdThe Ukrainian frontman scored five goals in 15 appearances after joining Hibs on loan from French club Troyes during the 2022/23 season before joining Swansea in a reported £1.25m move last summer. An injury-hit campaign limited Kukharevych to just 13 appearances for the Welsh outfit last season but he will hope for better fortunes after completing a return to Easter Road on Saturday.
Speaking after making the Ukraine Under-21 international his fifth summer signing, Hibs manager David Gray said: "I know all about his strengths and how his all-round play will benefit the team this season. He will have no trouble slotting back in again. He understands the league well, knows the players in the dressing room and we are all excited to work with him again."
Kukharevych has revealed Gray was ‘one of the main reasons’ behind his decision to return to Hibs and admitted he holds good memories from his previous spell with the club after he found the net against the likes of Aberdeen, Dundee United and St Mirren during his previous stint at Easter Road.
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Hide AdSpeaking to the club’s YouTube channel, he said: “I am so happy to be here. I have good memories from here, from this place, and I just can’t wait to get started. I was glad to hear it (interest from Hibs), it’s a good possibility for me, I feel it and I would like to make this happen. We had conversations and he (Gray) was one of the main reasons I came here because I know him as a person and a professional and I would like to work with him again.”
Former Hearts star suffers brutal injury
Former Hearts midfielder Sam Nicholson is facing a ‘sustained period of time’ on the sidelines after suffering a serious knee injury just days before the start of the Premiership season.
The former Scotland Under-21 international broke through the Hearts academy setup before making over 120 appearances for his boyhood club. Nicholson went on to spend time with MLS sides Minnesota and Colorado Rapids before returning to Scotland with Motherwell last January.
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Hide AdHis preparations for his first full season with Stuart Kettlewell’s side have now been severely disrupted after the Motherwell boss confirmed the midfielder had been ruled out of the 0-0 draw in their season opener with Ross County and is expected the be unavailable for the foreseeable future.
He said: “Sam Nicholson's a real blow last night. After a scan it looks as if he's going to be out for a sustained period of time as well. We're going to have to be creative in team selections to make sure that we've got options in the front end of the park.
“And as I say again, I'm actively looking to see if we can bring in some fresh blood as well to give us more options at the top end of the park because we know it's a long season and we know that we need options and we need to cover what has been another spate of injuries for us.
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Hide Ad“It's a problem with his patella tendon, his knee. We'll obviously give a wee bit more information as we move forward but we're still to get more clarity on what the next steps are. But it's a problem with his patella tendon. We almost had him back on the pitch and then there was a setback as such. There's been a scan. We've had the information back from the scan but the recovery process and the steps that need to be taken are still not 100% clear.”
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