Hibs refuse to rule out Élie Youan involvement against Luzern

Hibs remain hopeful of having Élie Youan available for the second leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League third qualifying round tie against Luzern of Switzerland.

The French forward played the first half of last week’s first leg in Edinburgh, but was replaced by Jordan Obita at the break, with the former Wycombe Wanderers man scoring the third goal in a 3-1 victory for Lee Johnson’s side. Youan, who signed a permanent deal following a successful season on loan from Luzern’s league rivals St. Gallen, wasn’t involved as Hibs crashed to a second successive cinch Premiership defeat at Motherwell on Sunday, although the 24-year-old did travel to Fir Park.

Youan was nursing a back problem that had ‘showed no signs of improvement for a couple of days’ according to his manager, but the former Nantes youngster hasn’t been ruled out of featuring against Luzern, who drew 1-1 with Young Boys at the weekend on league duty.

Johnson is expected to confirm during his pre-match press conference whether Youan will be fit to face Mario Frick’s side at the Swissporarena on Thursday, and could also give updates on midfield pair Josh Campbell and Jake Doyle-Hayes. Both players missed the ‘Well clash but the Hibs boss hinted that he could ask Campbell to play through the pain barrier in a bid to help set up a mouthwatering play-off round encounter with English Premier League side Aston Villa.

“I would think we would have to ask Josh to do us a favour,” Johnson admitted. “He has an injury to his shoulder, at the joint, which needs rest but he could potentially be there [on Thursday].”