What we noticed as Hibs returned to pre-season training - missing faces, squad number clues, new kit?

Many of the first-team squad were back at East Mains on Thursday

Hibs returned for pre-season training on Thursday to undergo the dreaded rigorous testing on a day that has become synonymous with pictures of players bent double, or lying on the ground in the foetal position such is the intensity of the exercises. Players including Lewis Stevenson, Joe Newell, Jimmy Jeggo, and Paul Hanlon were among those to return to East Mains after nearly a month off to be put through their paces in the Ormiston sunshine, with others given extended time off. Hibs posted a number of photos from the session on their social media accounts, so here’s what we noticed…

Aren’t there a few folk missing?

There have been ten first-team departures since the end of the season, including loanees returning to parent clubs, but numbers still looked a little light. Hanlon, Jeggo, Newell, and Stevenson were joined by Lewis Miller, Josh Campbell, Nohan Kenneh, Allan Delferrière, Christian Doidge, and the injured Chris Cadden at the training centre.

Members of the Hibs first-team squad returned to East Mains for pre-season testing on Thursday

Elias Melkersen has been granted extended time off – his domestic season with loan side Sparta Rotterdam only ended on June 11 and he is still on duty with Norway Under-21s. Rocky Bushiri was away with the DR Congo squad and will likely also be coming back at a later date.

There were no pictures of the goalkeepers either – but that might well have been because the club is close to finalising a deal for Maksymilian Boruc, who impressed on trial last season.

Squad number hints

It’s always good fun analysing the numbers on the training kit – even if it often means very little. Doidge was wearing gear branded with the number 23, a suggestion that his number 9 shirt could be up for grabs and with Adam Le Fondre wearing 19 it looks very much like 9 is being reserved for an incoming centre-forward. It may also mean Youan getting a new number, given he wore 23 last season during his season-long loan from St. Gallen. He doesn’t appear to have any attachment to a particular number having worn 20 for the Swiss side; 10 for loan side KV Mechelen and 20, 24, 33 and 34 for Nantes and with Kyle Magennis having moved on, that number 7 shirt might be getting a new owner…

Kenneh was pictured wearing 24, vacated by Darren McGregor at the end of last season, which would suggest the number 6 shirt he wore last season has been made available too. The 6 shirt could be worn by a holding midfielder – or a somewhat traditional centre-back.

Training gear kit hint?

Last year’s c̶a̶b̶b̶a̶g̶e̶ mint-coloured training gear ended up being very similar to the away kit. So could the purple-toned outfits this year hint at a purple away or third shirt? Hibs haven’t had a purple change kit since the 2019/20 season with a strip influenced by the mid-Nineties Calor Gas away kit but after yellow, grey, white, black, and cabbage change kits, we might see Hibs running out in purple once again – or might it be a red herring and the alternative cream and bottle green training wear be a precursor to what would surely be a popular change kit?