Exiled Hibs striker to get second chance under Montgomery

Melkersen is on loan in his native Norway

'Come in from the cold' - Monty's message to on-loan forward

Frozen out Norwegian striker Elias Melkersen will be given a warm welcome home by Hibs in January, with Nick Montgomery viewing the 20-year-old as an “asset” deserving of a second chance.

The head coach believes Melkersen wasn’t ready to make the giant leap from the Norwegian second tier – he scored 23 goals in 37 games while on loan from Bodo Glimt to Ranheim – to Scotland’s elite division when he signed, amid much fanfare, in January 2022.

But Monty is eager to get a close-up look at the versatile attacker, promising opportunities as he looks to strengthen his forward options.

Still a teenager when he arrived, Melkersen struggled to establish himself first under Shaun Maloney and then Lee Johnson.

He was sent out on loan to Sparta Rotterdam last season – and has spent the first half of this season back in Norway, scoring four goals in ten starts in his loan spell with Stromsgodset.

Revealing that he’d been in touch with all of the Hibs players currently out on loan, Montgomery said: “I’ve spoken to Elias and watched his games.

“He looks like a very, very good young player - and a player who I know had a tough start at Hibs. I think he was probably thrown in at the deep end when he wasn’t quite ready.

“But I think the way that we play, with two strikers, he’ll definitely be an asset for us moving forward. He’s having a good loan spell at the minute, he’s scoring goals, so it’ll be nice to see him when he comes back.

“I’ve spoken to all the players who are out on loan - we’ve watched them, we do a weekly round-up. Unfortunately, we haven’t had time to go and watch them live because we’ve had a lot of games.”