Exclusive:Sunderland loanee gets Hibs World Cup message as future addressed with 'this club sells itself' claim

Nectar Triantis has been urged to play his way into the World Cup by signing on for another season at Hibs – a club who have already proven themselves the perfect platform for the Sunderland loanee. And Easter Road boss David Gray insists there is no need to make a hard sales pitch to the midfielder, with the gaffer declaring: “This club sells itself.”

Former Central Coast Mariners prospect Triantis has been a standout in his second loan spell with Hibs, transitioning permanently from central defence to central midfield – and earning a first Socceroos call-up from new international boss Tony Popovic on the strength of his most eye-catching performances. The player’s agent, Jem Karacan, said last week that his client would be exploring a number of options come the summer.

“With the season he's had, yeah, there's going to be interest,” Karacan said. “But it's also about, what does Nectar want? Ultimately, we're hoping that Australia get to the World Cup.

“That changes things. He has to play next year. We can't afford for him to go to a club and be a bit-part player.

“He's experienced a season of being one of the main men. He needs to repeat that. We need to make sure that he gets to a club or if he stays at Sunderland, that there are going to be opportunities to play. That's our main focus, making sure he goes to a team where he's going to feel an important part of it.”

Gray is more than ready to offer Triantis exactly that sort of starring role as the 21-year-old, who didn’t win a first cap despite being called up for World Cup qualifiers against Indonesia and China during the last international break, looks to time his run perfectly ahead of next summer’s tournament in Canada, Mexico and the USA. With established Socceroos Martin Boyle and Lewis Miller already on the books at Easter Road, Gray argues that Hibs have a track record of helping players reach the biggest stage.

“To be honest, I think for what Nectar's done, firstly he deserves immense credit, which he's had all season, people speaking a lot about him, how well he's done, and that's credit to him,” said Gray. “But also credit to the group of players he trains with every single day, the club, everything that goes with that.

Triantis ‘no need’ to move in search of international recognition

“The platform that he's had, it's been perfect. If you're talking about what you want to do when you go out on loan, it's been a perfect fit for him.

“He knew what he was coming into, he knew what was expected of him, he knew the club, the city, everything that goes with that. So he's really taken advantage of that, done incredibly well, which means he's now getting talked about as having potential options.

“But when you talk about how you sell this place, it sells itself on what we've done this season. It sells itself on how ow much progression he's made this season, the opportunity to potentially play in Europe, everything that comes with that.

“He's had international recognition because of what he's done at Hibs. So it's not as if he needs to go somewhere else to be able to get that.

“There's players already in the squad that are playing for Australia because of what they're doing on a weekly basis for him and the football club. So that's all there, it sells itself already.

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“It probably confirms what we pitched initially, when you're trying to bring someone like Nectar to the football, laying what it could look like. So from that point of view, it doesn't take much to do that.

“And even if you speak to him, he knows exactly what this club's all about. And I think he's really enjoying it.

“As I've always said, he's a really humble boy who wants to improve all the time Rightly so, he will have options because of how well he's done. But I think at his age, there's still a lot of development to be done, which is only natural – and he’s keen to learn.”

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