Hibs' Neil Lennon to hold transfer meeting as he bids to bolster squad

Assistant boss Garry Parker revealed last week that management intended to add new faces to the squad next month after slipping to eighth place in the Premiership. Lennon confirmed that he will hold further talks with his recruitment staff in the weeks ahead as the club attempt to home in on their signing targets.

Hibs benefited from some shrewd mid-season business last term as Scott Allan, Florian Kamberi and Jamie Maclaren arrived to help the team enjoy a strong second half to the campaign, and the manager is hoping for similar success in the upcoming winter transfer market.

“We’ll have a meeting about what we want to do in January and try and target some players because we do need to add to the squad,” said Lennon. “It is light at the minute, there’s no question of that and we could do with some fresh impetus for the second half of the season. We did alright this time last year. Maybe we got a bit lucky with a couple of the signings but we’ll be working hard over the next few weeks to get one or two over the line.”

The contracts of Greek right-back Charalampos Mavrias and on-loan duo Emerson Hyndman and Thomas Agyepong are all due to expire at the end of this month. Asked if there had been any developments with regard to deciding their respective futures, Lennon said: “Not yet.”

Mavrias and Agyepong are both likely to miss the remainder of Hibs’ fixtures this year through injury, with the Greek out until “mid-January at least” with a hamstring injury. Those two players are joined on the sidelines for tomorrow’s Easter Road showdown with Celtic by David Gray, Paul Hanlon and Marvin Bartley, while Mark Milligan is doubtful. Martin Boyle and Adam Bogdan will also face late checks to assess their chances of featuring.

“We’re short but we’re still capable of getting something out of the game,” said Lennon, who added that the substitutes’ bench will be “pretty young”.