Alex Gogic, the long story behind new Hibs signing and what he will bring to Easter Road

Alex Gogic had more lucrative offers - but Hibs won the race to his signature

Some Hibs fans will be unaware of this, but Alex Gogic has already made a little bit of history at Easter Road this year.

Just after 8pm on Wednesday, January 22, Gogic headed Hamilton Accies into a 1-0 lead and in the process netted the first Scottish Premiership goal of the decade.

Hamilton went on to lose 2-1 to Hibs that night, but 26-year-old Gogic was one of the best players on the pitch as Accies bossed large parts of the midfield battle. With less than six months remaining on his contract, it was clear back then a bigger move was on the horizon for the Cypriot – and that expectation became reality late last Friday when he penned a two-year deal with the Hibees.

Alex Gogic scores for Hamilton against Hibs back in January

Made from good stock

Gogic has always been driven to make a name for himself in football. It's family tradition, after all. Alex is the son of one Cyprus' best players, Sinisa Gogic, who racked up 38 caps for his country and won numerous titles in his homeland.

Alex Gogic was born in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia in 1994, but by the age of three he was uprooted to Athens, Greece, after his father earned a life-changing move away from Anorthosis Famagusta - who he once played for against Rangers - to Olympiacos. Sinisa, who was born in Serbia, went on to become a fans' favourite at the Piraeus-based club, helping them win three successive titles, and Alex joined their youth team.

Going his own way

Alex Gogic stalks Scott Allan during a Hamilton-Hibs match back in October last year.

Gogic's footballing inspiration as a child was his father and he was desperate to forge a professional career in the game. Deep down, however, Gogic knew he had to leave Olympiacos to make a name for himself, rather than be constantly compared to his father. Sinisa was a striker and Alex was a defender, but despite the positional differences, Gogic understood it would be tough - plus his dream was to play in Britain. So, when Swansea City handed the then-19-year-old a trial in 2013 - at the time, the Swans were one of the best at developing youth players and plying their trade in the Premier League - Gogic jumped at the chance.

"It is nice having a dad who is well known but when you are related to a footballer and you play the game yourself, people are too quick to compare you, which is not easy," Gogic said when he left Greece for Wales. "I have had hard times where I am referred to as Gogic's son instead of people measuring me on my game. Some players would like that, but I prefer to be my own man."

Gogic did enough to win a contract and spent four years with the Swans, playing predominantly as a centre-half. He won the Professional Development League Two in his second campaign in south Wales. Nevertheless, a route in the first team was always going to be hard to find and, ultimately, he ended up in Scotland in February 2017 when Hamilton Accies “took a chance” on him.

Life in Scotland

"I think he'd left Swansea to go to Raith and for whatever reason, the deal didn't happen, and we became aware of it and managed to get him in," recalls former Hibs defender Martin Canning, his first manager at Hamilton. "One of my contacts put his name to me. I checked him out and I liked him, so we took a chance. When we brought him in, we realised pretty quickly we had a good one."

By this point, Gogic – nicknamed ‘Goga’ - had transformed from a centre-half to a defensive midfielder. That was the position he had played latterly for Swansea and also for Cyprus Under-21s. It was also the strongest part of the Accies team, though.

"When he came to Hamilton, he could play centre-half or in midfield," explains Canning. "His strongest position is probably a sitting midfielder, but when he arrived, Goga was still inexperienced - he was still a kid in terms of playing senior football - and we had Darian MacKinnon in there, who was doing well for us. We had Ali Crawford, we had Greg Docherty, a strong central midfield at that point and we were probably a little bit weaker at the back.

"He was equally as good at right centre-back. He could play in a back-three and he played a good part of his early Accies career in there, getting his games up. And then as Darian started to get a bit older, Goga got his opportunity to play as a sitting midfielder."

A hammer blow

Gogic's career in Scotland was just starting to take off when, on February 24, 2018, he suffered a cruciate knee injury in a 2-1 win against Partick Thistle. He was sidelined for almost ten months.

"He came back from his injury like a model pro," says Canning. "His attitude to come back was unbelievable. He worked as hard as he could and came back stronger than ever. Alex was a great help to Marios Ogkmpoe (Accies' Greek striker), who had the same injury at the same time. Goga was able to help Marios through it. Goga was able to drive Marios on through the rehab as he struggled a little bit more."

Enhancing his reputation

Gogic was a mainstay in Hamilton's team ever since he returned from injury. Last season was his best since turning pro and Canning puts that down to being fully fit and being in his most effective position of defensive midfielder.

Gogic started to earn a reputation of himself as the ultimate destroyer during the 2019/20 campaign. His stats for tackles made and won are very high. He would often bully opposition midfields. Win the ball, give it to a more forward-thinking player, a track stuck on repeat.

Other teams started to take notice. St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin really wanted him. So did clubs in England, Greece and Cyprus - some making lucrative offers - while even a team in the MLS expressed a desire to sign him. But Hibs needed a defensive midfielder badly. Head coach Jack Ross and sporting director Graeme Mathie went on the charm offensive, and Gogic's head was turned. When he decided in the middle of last week that Edinburgh was the place for him, negotiations did not take long. Hibs were delighted that their No.1 target for defensive midfield was in the bag - and, for the record, the work Ross and Mathie did to bat away extremely competitive offers elsewhere cannot be underestimated.

Family man and character references

Speak to any of Gogic's former team-mates - and indeed staff at Hamilton - and the same traits come up. He is a salt-of-the-earth kind of guy, always willing to help others and put the greater good ahead of himself. He would take part in charitable acts, often hand-delivering football shirts to fans in the town and would engage with Hamilton support. He is a family man, devoted to his fiancee Chloe, who he met in Wales, and their son Milan. His father will always be his hero - "I have my dad to thank for my drive and ambition and he is always going to be my idol," Gogic once said. He has fallen in love with Scotland, and was always keen to keep himself in a country he sees as a "second home".

"Goga's just a good guy, who you want to do well," says his former captain at Hamilton, Darian MacKinnon. "He's battle-hardened and I think he'll do really well at Hibs. He is vocal on the pitch but very quiet in the dressing-room. He'll have a carry-on and stuff, but he's not one of the boisterous lads. He says his piece when he has to. But overall, he's just a brilliant guy. When I moved to sign for Drumchapel just there, he was the first one to text me. I can't speak highly enough of him."

The glowing character references continue. "He's one of the nicest guys you'll come across in football," adds Canning. "Everything is done with no purpose, it'll all be selfless. He does what he does with no self-promotion. He's an unbelievable professional. He's a leader just by through example. He's not a shouter or a bawler. He'll be the first one in the gym, if you're doing running he will be the first one up the front. If there's a tackle to be made, he'll go and do it. If there's graft to be done, he'll get stuck in."

The harder side - and the new Marvin Bartley?

Don't mistake the niceties for a lack of steel on the pitch though. MacKinnon admits that Gogic has that "mean streak" in him, that competitive nature that every defensive midfielder needs.

Canning agrees: "He's a winner - he'll do what he needs to do to get that victory. I've got no issue with him settling in to a big club like Hibs. Once he's in, he'll realise how big a club it is and he'll thrive on it and enjoy that. Hopefully it's a good marriage - he'll do well for Hibs and they'll do well for him."

The big question on Hibs fans' lips, though, is whether he can fill the void left by Marvin Bartley. The now-Livingston captain left Easter Road last summer and Hibs were often soft in the centre by dint of having too many attack-minded midfielders. MacKinnon - who has played against Bartley loads of times - reckons supporters need not worry.

"Bartley was just a big solid unit," laughs MacKinnon as he recalls previous battles with him. "I think Goga is more mobile, probably just as good at breaking up the play. Both of them are good, but Goga has really kicked on this last season. He's so hard to play against as he's always on you ... mobile, strong, good in the air, technically pretty decent. I think in the last year he has brushed up on his passing as he was a bit loose before, but now he's tidied it up and does the simple things well. He'll be suited to Hibs. If they put two attack-minded midfielders ahead of him, he can just sweep everything up behind them."

It appears Hibs may have found their long-lost defensive midfielder. The stage is set for Gogic to make a big name for himself at Easter Road – and perhaps write some more history.