Hibs outbid by Celtic - McCowan fee revealed as Dundee skipper heads to Glasgow

Jack Iredale (No. 3) seen celebrating a goal for Green Morton back in 2018. | SNS Group

Hibs were outbid for Luke McCowan when Celtic agreed to pay £1.25 million for the Dundee captain, according to sources familiar with negotiations. The Easter Road club, who rounded off their Deadline Day business by landing Bolton defender Jack Iredale just before the 11 pm deadline, with final confirmation delayed beyond midnight. were prepared to go close to seven figures for McCowan – but wouldn’t match Celtic’s final valuation on the 26-year-old midfielder.

On a day when a number of ins and outs failed to materialise, with Elie Youan notably still a Hibee at close of play, there was no business between Hibs and other clubs in billionaire Bournemouth owner Bill Foley’s Black Knight stable. And, despite repeated bids from Hibs, McCowan ultimately ended up heading to Glasgow instead of Edinburgh.

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Iredale became new manager David Gray’s 11th signing of his first transfer window in the last knockings of market activity, with Nectar Triantis having rejoined Hibs on a season-long loan earlier in the evening. Triantis has been signed specifically to fill a midfield role, with Gray identifying the Aussie as an out-and-out No. 6 capable of “dominating” the middle of the park.

Although born in Scotland, former Morton defender Iredale is another Australian, having been capped by his homeland – his family moved to Oz when he was a kid – up to under-17 level. A stalwart in the Bolton team who just missed out on promotion to the Championship last season, with Wanderers losing out to Oxford in the play-off final at Wembley, Iredale is a 6’ 3” centre-half expected to provide competition for the trio of Warren O’Hora, Marvin Ekpiteta and Rocky Bushiri. He’s signed a two-year contract after Hibs paid Bolton an undisclosed fee.

Despite previous interest from France and Italy, no concrete bids for Youan – or at least none matching the club’s valuation in excess of £2.5 million – came in before the deadline. The French attacker, still recovering from a hip injury sustained in an on-field collision last month, is expected to be fit and available for duty by the end of the international break just around the corner.

And Gray is expecting the solid professional to rededicate himself to the Hibs cause, saying earlier this week: “If Ellie’s still here on Saturday morning, I would expect him to fully understand that he's still a Hibs player and it's in his best interest to be the best he can be. You see that every day in training.

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“He loves his football; he loves training and he's probably one of the best athletes I’ve worked with. I think he's got everything when it comes to that point of view.

“One thing he always wants to do is be the best he can be. Even when he was injured, he was doing extra in the gym, he does extra in the training pitch every day. He's great to work with from that point of view.”