'We’ve got four or five of the best 16-year-olds in the country' – Hibs boss makes talent claim and explains City Football Group recruitment plan

Hibs boss Lee Johnson has claimed the club possess up to five of the best 16-year-old stars in Scottish football.

Johnson believes the club have some of the best young talent in Scottish football and will work with the club to create a balance “over the period of four or five windows” to allow those players to develop. “I think we’ve got four or five of the best 16-year-olds in the country,” he said.

“Now, they’re not ready yet, because they’re 16, but in two years’ time we need to be understanding whether their performance levels are ready to oust the senior players. And therefore we can spend more of the pie on your Boyle types; ready-made players, ready to go and maybe not take as many punts, because our young players know us and know the system and know the culture."

Johnson also believes his relationship with City Football Group can stand Hibs in good stead when it comes to providing an avenue for savvy recruitment in the future. The Easter Road club were able to land striker Mykola Kuharevich on a season-long loan from French outfit Troyes, who are one of a number of clubs in CFG’s portfolio, including Manchester City, Yokohama F Marinos and Palermo. The Ukrainian has impressed so far and scored the opening goal in Friday’s 2-1 defeat to St Johnstone.

Mykola Kuharevich opened the scoring for Hibs against St Johnstone. (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)

Johnson explained: "The history of the City Group signing the player and my connection with the City Group and the connection with the development of those I’ve had over the years becomes an important part of it. Effectively, they’ve entrusted myself, the coaching team and Hibs as a club to help develop what they believe is a player of extremely high potential.

“Some of that is game-time, some of that is the individual coaching we do, some of that is the environment we create for the player. That, for us, could be gold, really, because of the number of players who are in that group and the talent pool they have and the money they spend. We have to work smartly to maximise and try to bridge the gap between the finances of the bigger clubs in the division. That’s what we’re trying to do.”