How Hibs boss plans to use City Football Group links as he reveals change to loan signings

Lee Johnson is prepared to maximise his links with the City Football Group for the betterment of Hibs – but he won't let the Easter Road club lose its identity along the way.
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The Hibs boss enjoys a personal relationship with the Manchester City owners and the Capital club benefited last season by loaning Ukrainian forward Mykola Kukharevych from French side Troyes, who are also owned by the group. Johnson believes the future of football will see more ‘multi-team structures’ created, but explained how his connection might benefit Hibs in the present.

"It's my relationship, but I'm at a fantastic club as well. The City Football Group doesn’t do anyone any favours, per se. There's a lot of trust that goes into this stuff. The club has obviously got to be right but the manager is also picking the team and that becomes an important factor in their decision, especially when they've got so many clubs. The City Group is full of top-quality practitioners who get a lot more right than wrong, and I'm just grateful we're in their good books.”

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Johnson is close with Brian Marwood, the City Group’s Managing Director of Global Football, but insists that Hibs won’t forget their roots – even despite an increase in the number of permitted loans next season.

Lee Johnson is keen to make the most of his links with the City Football Group to benefit HibsLee Johnson is keen to make the most of his links with the City Football Group to benefit Hibs
Lee Johnson is keen to make the most of his links with the City Football Group to benefit Hibs

“Clubs can bring in seven loan players [from the start of the 2023/24 season], which I think is interesting. Somebody will maximise it but there's a risk. You can't do them all from the same club but with multi-club structures [like the City Group] it could be two from Troyes, two from Manchester City, two from New York City – that's possible. We won't do that, but it is a factor in trying to find the right balance between quality and resource.

"But we are Hibs; we're never going to lose our identity. That's never going to change. It's just supplementing what we've already got. We probably pay 30 per cent of the actual wage that the player is on, so that helps us stretch our budget and if you can scratch someone's back and they scratch yours then it works for everybody: we increase the value of their player or get them into Manchester City's first team or similar.”

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