Hibs recruit fitness update as gaffer Gray confesses to 'frustration' over star forward's absence
Quartet of key men battling to be fit for duty
Hibs are putting lone January signing Alasana Manneh through an intensive training programme aimed at getting the midfielder up to speed to play against St Mirren in Paisley on Sunday. And gaffer David Gray says he’ll give the Gambian international as long as possible to prove his match sharpness before naming his squad.
Gray has also provided updates on skipper Joe Newell and central defender Marvin Ekpiteta. And he’s admitted to “frustration” over the continued absence of star attacker Elie Youan.
Manneh, the only new recruit to arrive at East Mains during the mid-season window, hadn’t played a first-team game for Odense Boldklub since before the Danish winter break. Hibs bought out the final six months of his contract specifically so he could make an impact in the current campaign.
But Gray, speaking at lunchtime yesterday, said: “Yeah, we're moving in the right direction. Alasana obviously missed the Ayr United game with him being on the winter break, so we’ve taken the opportunity not to include him in the squad to try and get him up to speed a little bit quicker.
“So put him through a bit of a mini pre-season trying to get him up to speed, which he's responded really well to. It's still a wee bit early in terms of the game’s not until Sunday so we're going to give him as much time as we can to try and get work into him to see if he'll be available for this weekend.
“But it's a bit soon to monitor that one just now. But apart from that there was nobody really coming back, in terms of injuries. The longer term ones are still maybe not going to be quite ready but are back on the grass and involved in the group all the time so we're definitely getting there which is great.”
Manneh’s availability would help cover for the continued absence of club captain Newell, Gray confessing that the midfielder is taking “maybe just a week or so” longer than expected to recover from a groin problem that has kept him out since late December, the gaffer stressing: "A lot of that's not to do with any significant setback or anything like that - it's just been a case of making sure we get it absolutely spot on; he gets as strong as he can be within that area.
“Because he was playing with a sort of niggle for such a long period of time. As much as that’s a frustration as a coach because you want your players back as quick as you can, a little bit of a sacrifice for a couple of weeks puts him in a far better place to finish the season really strong, without maybe missing a step or two to try and get him back on the grass quickly.
"I think that's been the challenge with Joe in the last couple of weeks. He's at that point now though where he's itching to get back. He's back on the grass.
“All the time he's getting through every hurdle that gets put in front of him he's coming over it strongly. He's in a much better place and we should get the benefits for that in the next week or so moving forward, which is really positive
Impossible for Elie
"But as I say it's probably niggled on a wee bit. There is a plan in place, and it's maybe went a week or so longer than we thought it would but longer term we should get the rewards for that.”
Elie Youan hasn’t played since the Boxing Day win over Hearts at Tynecastle, the Frenchman needing an injection on a big toe injury that is affecting every aspect of his attempts to train, Gray admitting: "I've said many times he was a really frustrating one because that was one that I thought could have been days. When I think back and I'm sure when you look back over all my press every week, I'm saying Elie could be available this weekend.
“Then naturally the longer that goes on, it's almost impossible for him to be available because he's not actually been able to get the time on the grass to get the minutes into the legs to get him ready to train him. To have the risk of injury that comes with that, he's been out for a significant period of time now, so he's now having to go through a bit of a rehab program to make sure we get him back to speed and that's took longer than we'd expect.
“If you've hurt your thumb, you don't realise how important your thumb is until you've actually hurt it. His toe's been exactly the same. It's been this thing that's really restricting him when he's running and as a result of that it's been a lot slower than we'd hoped. But everything is slowly getting there - it's definitely improving but it's been an extremely frustrating one.”
Ekpiteta, out since early November with a thigh problem, has returned to work alongside the group, Gray saying: "He's good. He's been back training the past couple of days. This week will be too soon - but he's getting there.”
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