Stevie Mallan injury 'may influence Hibs transfer business', admits Jack Ross

Stevie Mallan has been nursing a knee injury with Jack Ross still to learn the extent of the issue

Hibs boss Jack Ross has revealed he hopes to know “as quickly as possible” the severity of Stevie Mallan’s knee injury, admitting it could influence his transfer window activity.

Mallan has been left behind to continue his rehabilitation at the club’s East Mains training centre as Ross’ squad enjoy a week of warm weather training on the Costa del Sol and the head coach hopes to have a definitive answer by the time he returns to Edinburgh at the weekend.

He said: “Stevie had an issue with his knee prior to me coming to the club, it had been troubling him a little bit but he is a good type in terms he tends to train and play through things.

“We’ve managed it a little bit but he aggravated it right at the end of the game at Tynecastle and he did not recover immediately from it so there was no point in him coming out here. It was better that he was left behind to continue his rehab and be assessed and by the time we return I am hoping we will have greater clarity on it.

We’ll have clarity on it as to whether it’s more serious than we think or less serious or it is what it is and if it’s that he will continue getting back to fitness sooner rather than later. But we have to make sure there’s nothing more troublesome than what we think at the moment.”

Ross insisted he wasn’t concerned at this stage as to whether the midfielder may require surgery but said. “I think it’s just making sure we know exactly what is wrong with it because it might change then what we would want from the club through the window if we lost Stevie who has his own individual qualities.

“It’s just trying to know as quickly as possible, the last thing we want is to get to the end of the window and then have him ruled out for a period of time then. There’s nothing we can do at the moment, we’ll see by the time we return I would expect to know for certain how long or approximately how long he will be out.”

Ross, however, was unable to say whether former St Mirren and Barnsley man Mallan would be fit for Hibs Scottish Cup tie against Championship leaders Dundee United at Tannadice a week on Sunday.

“At the moment it’s difficult to say,” he said. “If it was this weekend I would say yes but obviously it’s still a bit away so we’ll wait and see.”