Paul Hanlon: Kamberi impact will attract new faces to Hibs

Paul Hanlon believes the impact striker Flo Kamberi has had at Easter Road will help attract further new faces to the Capital club.

Kamberi clinched a three-year contract following a highly successful loan spell, the Swiss hitman scoring nine goals in just 14 games, while Australian forward Jamie Maclaren, midfielder Scott Allan and flying winger Brandon Barker similarly caught the eye during temporary stays with Hibs.

Neil Lennon hasn’t given up hope of persuading Maclaren, Allan and Barker to follow Kamberi in returning to Edinburgh, although the Hibs boss has admitted doing so will be difficult given they remain under contract to German side Darmstadt, Celtic and Manchester City respectively with the wages involved also an obvious stumbling block.

But even if those three don’t return, Hanlon is convinced others will be easily persuaded to sign on.

Paul Hanlon promotes his upcoming testimonial against Blackburn Rovers at Easter Road

He said: “We are a big club and have a good recruitment set-up now watching players all over the world.

“No-one had heard of Kamberi. To pluck a player like that from nowhere and to have the impact he did towards the end of the season and then to convince him to stay just shows there are good people in these roles that are good at their jobs and good at convincing players that Hibs is a good place to come.

“Flo, on a three-year deal, is a great signing, massive. He made an incredible difference in five months, gave us a good target to hit and he scored a number of goals. That’s just the start and I’m sure the squad will get even stronger between now and the first game of the season.

“It’s about keeping standards high, building on it and, with the manager we have in place, he won’t let us slip.

“I think the success of Flo and the others is a good example of how well it can go when they are trying to attract players. Maybe they don’t always get the players back they want, but they can use those examples to attract others who might be on their radar.

“Hibs are a big club, attractive to a lot of players and Edinburgh is a great place to live, so I am sure there will be no problems attracting players.”