Analysis: Is Dylan Vente the white knight Hibs need at this moment in time?

Two defeats in the opening three games has evaporated much of the optimism and goodwill the Hibs support felt towards their team coming into this season.

In such instances, fans typically hope for the arrival of a white knight to come along and make everything OK again; someone good enough to not only make a positive impact as an individual, but capable of raising the quality of the team around them as well.

Hibs may already have one such individual waiting in the wings in the form of Dylan Vente, the summer signing bought from Roda JC for an eye-popping £700,000 whose introduction to Scottish football has been held up by delays in his work permit.

Is the 24-year-old the man to get Hibs back on track as their season threatens to derail before the end of August? There are certainly enough positive indicators to suggest so.

Dylan Vente during his days with Feyenoord back in 2019. Picture: Getty

Firstly, there’s his scoring record. He netted 49 goals in 92 games during his two-and-a-half seasons with the Dutch second-tier side. It may often seem like goals in Dutch football are like dog years, with many famous cases in the English Premier League of previously-celebrated hitmen struggling after leaving the confines of the Netherlands, but it’s a bit different when they make the journey to Scottish football. After all, one of the most beloved Hearts forwards of the 21st century, Mark de Vries, arrived from the same level.

Vente is very much a forward focused on scoring goals above all else. He doesn’t tend to battle opposing centre-backs and neither wins nor concedes many fouls. Nor does he like to get on the football and run at the opposition. His game is about elusiveness, about blending into the background like an apex predator waiting for his moment in which to strike.

He shoots for goal often (averaging just under three a game over the past 12 months) and hits the target 44 per cent of the time, which would’ve had him in the top ten of Scottish Premiership strikers last season.

He’s also pretty good in the air. Last season he won 38.86 per cent of his aerial duels, which isn’t far behind Christian Doidge at 41.03, and he’s quicker in a sprint than his new Easter Road team-mate.

It’s also worth mentioning he’ll have Elie Youan and Martin Boyle playing on either side. They lightning-quick wide men should be able to both provide ample opportunities and open up space for Vente in which to feast.

Potential downsides revolve around how the team is constructed and operates further back. For instance, Sunday’s game against St Mirren probably isn’t the type of contest in which Vente would change a toiling Hibs performance. Doidge helped Hibs fight back from a 2-0 deficit by battling the away defenders and making the ball stick after manager Lee Johnson chose to go direct. Vente doesn’t bring the same type of focal point. He isn’t necessarily someone who can haul a struggling supporting cast up the park with his own gravitational pull.

When the team is purring and regularly bombarding the opposition goal, Vente is exactly the type of player to make sure such domination is fully capitalised on.

He can definitely become a hero, but Hibs still need to get the rest of their house in order.