Hibs to face Celtic in Parkhead pre-season friendly

Hibs will send a team to Parkhead to take on Celtic in a friendly on Monday 27 July.

Ben Stirling keeps a close eye on striker Patryk Klimala in a meeting between Celtic and Hibs earlier this year

The game will kick off at 1.30pm, barely 48 hours after the Easter Road side travels to Pittodrie to take on Aberdeen in their fourth pre-season clash.The Capital club has completed three bounce matches so far as part of preparations for the upcoming 2020/21 season, with draws against St Mirren and St Johnstone followed up by a 2-1 win against Hamilton Accies at Easter Road earlier this week.

Neil Lennon’s team has already played three warm-up games in France against Nice, Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain, and will host Ross County 24 hours earlier on Sunday 26 July.

The quick turnaround between Hibs’ trip to the Granite City and the match in Glasgow could see two different Easter Road teams involved.

One player who won’t feature in either friendly however, is Florian Kamberi.

The striker, who has not played in any of Hibs’ previous three friendlies, has been given permission by the club to return to Switzerland and is edging closer to the exit door.

Swiss Super League side St Gallen are understood to be keen on the player.

No formal bids have been made yet but Rangers’ interest in Kamberi appears to have cooled, despite Ibrox striker Jermain Defoe picking up a hamstring injury ahead of the start of the season on 1 August.