Élie Youan: Hibs complete signing of in-demand French forward

Hibs have completed the signing of French forward Élie Youan on a season-long loan deal from Swiss side St. Gallen.

The Easter Road side have an option to buy the pacy 23-year-old on a permanent basis and saw off competition from a host of other teams to secure his services.

Hibs manager Lee Johnson welcomed the arrival of the Nantes-born attacker, saying: “We are glad Élie chose us out of numerous clubs who were interested in him.

“He is a very versatile forward player with excellent speed and dynamism. His attributes will enable us to stretch the game and allow us to open up space for our technically-gifted midfield players.”

Youan can operate centrally or on the left of a front three and will join Hibs on their forthcoming summer training camp in Portugal this week, along with Friday night signing Aiden McGeady.

Head of Recruitment Ian Gordon added: “We are excited to add a player of Élie’s ability to our squad. He has proven he can score goals across different European leagues and we are confident that he will continue to succeed in Scotland.

“Both his pace and his natural goal-scoring ability impressed us and he will give us another option to use in the forward areas.”

Born in France to Ivorian parents, Youan began his career with hometown side Nantes, primarily featuring for the Canaries’ B team with nine goals and two assists in 31 games, while he also added a goal and an assist in eight appearances for the first team, both contributions coming in an 8-0 thrashing of Paris FC in the French league cup.

Élie Youan has joined Hibs on a season-long loan deal Picture: Hibernian FC

He moved to Switzerland on loan when St. Gallen came calling, scoring five times and laying on seven more in 33 games during the 2020/21 campaign, and signed permanently last summer. He hit a further seven goals and four assists in 20 games before heading to KV Mechelen on loan, but played just 34 minutes across four substitute appearances in the Belgian top flight.

Youan has also been capped by France at under-18, under-19, and under-20 level, scoring a combined nine goals in 24 international games.