Rocky Bushiri: Hibs announce permanent signing of defender from Norwich City

The 22-year-old was a January arrival from East Anglia, with the Easter Road side having an option to make the move permanent.

And Belgian-born Bushiri has agreed a long-term deal with the Capital club after an option in his original loan agreement was triggered through a certain number of appearances.

The former Belgium Under-21 internationalist played 15 times for Hibs in the second half of last term after making the move from Carrow Road during Shaun Maloney’s tenure.

Manager Lee Johnson said: “Rocky has a lot of attributes to be successful in his career.

“He has obvious strengths and it’ll be interesting to see how quickly he can adapt to a new playing style.”

Ian Gordon, the club’s head of recruitment, added: “Rocky is just 22, has played over 80 senior matches, and has a lot of room for improvement. We believe we can add value to him that’ll benefit the club in the future.”

Bushiri is the fifth signing of the summer after playmaker Ewan Henderson’s loan from Celtic became permanent, goalkeeper David Marshall and defensive midfielder Nohan Kenneh joined from Queen’s Park Rangers and Leeds United respectively, and Gambian forward Momodou Bojang arrived on a season-long loan from Rainbow FC.

Hibs are still working on additions to Johnson’s squad ahead of the players returning for pre-season on Saturday June 18 and there could be outgoings as well as the new manager tweaks his playing pool in preparation for the upcoming 2022/23 campaign.