Lee Johnson defends Hibs links with City Football Group - and appears to drop hint over talented youngster's future

Hibs manager Lee Johnson has vowed to make the most of his links with the City Football Group as he responded to criticism suggesting he was overlooking the Easter Road side’s talented crop of youngsters in favour of bringing in players from outwith the club.

The Hibs boss has close ties to the Manchester-based conglomerate and has already made use of them to bring in Mykola Kukharevych from French side Troyes. But with youngsters such as Ethan Laidlaw and Josh O’Connor regularly amongst the goals for the reserves, some supporters – and former Hibs player-turned-pundit Tam McManus – have questioned the logic of recruiting players from elsewhere instead of blooding the club’s kids.

“We’ve got some great young players at this football club who I’m really excited about, but the reality is you have to look everywhere,” Johnson said as he previewed Sunday’s trip to Dundee United. "At our level you have to get two or three good loans unless you’re going to play four or five 16 or 17-year-olds and they’re ready. The difference, for example, between a Mykola Kukharevych and a Josh O’Connor would be some physicality aspects, some different experience in terms of where they’ve played, international football, and they’re different types of players as well.

"And who in their right mind would turn down the opportunity to have a fantastic link with top clubs that are now global entities? It’s not just younger players; we’re talking about partnerships, data transfer, knowledge transfer, sponsorship – there are so many factors to having a good relationship with these world giants so why would you not capitalise on that? You would be losing out if you didn’t have conversations with the big clubs. They want to help us as well because of what we can give them back. These partnerships are two-way things. The club has signed partnerships with clubs previously and sometimes haven’t maximised them so it’s something that’s important for us as a football club to bridge the gap.”

Lee Johnson fully intends to make the most of his links with the City Football Group

Insisting that it wasn’t just about younger players, Johnson put forward a scenario in which a player in their thirties might be keen to experience life in a different league and new country – and insisted Hibs wouldn’t stand in the way of a homegrown youth player capable of making the step up to the first team, appearing to drop a hint over the future of 18-year-old left-back Oscar MacIntyre, who has so far made three senior appearances for Hibs while starring for the CAS Elite Under-18 League title-winners last season and impressing during the club’s UEFA Youth League run earlier this season.

“The City Football Group must have about 600 players,” he said. “It might be a 32-year-old who has the potential to jump into a different country. Everything is assessed. We always look internally first but it has to be part of the Rubik’s Cube in terms of the squad dynamic and the budgetary dynamic to look at the bigger picture. If we have a young left-back coming through, who we believe is going to be in the starting XI all of next year, we’re not going to be asking Liverpool, or Manchester United, or Manchester City, for their options at left-back,” the Hibs boss explained.