by Trevor Hannant 24th July 2002

De La Cruz going nowhere - for now! Ecuador star set for crunch talks next week Hibs Managing Director Rod Petrie is set to hold showdown talks with Ecuadorian international star Ulises De La Cruz next week after the Hibs squad return from their pre-season tour of Finland. Reports again this morning in one National newspaper suggest that Hibs have accepted an offer for De La Cruz with a figure of around £2million again being quoted however Petrie has been quick to dismiss this. However, this news has not yet filtered through the local Birmingham press throwing more doubt on the validity of the source of the story. De La Cruz at the press conference announcing his arrival. Is this to be repeated in Birmingham? "Ulises played for the side last night and the fact remains that he is a Hibs player." Again, there is some confusion as to whether these comments are actually coming from the player, his agent Eric Manasse, a fact that has not been missed by the Hibs chief. "I am aware of the alleged remarks but we've been in a situation before where something he has said to a foreign journalist has been misconstrued in translation. I'm sure when he comes back we'll be able to sit down and find out exactly what he has said but until then I don't want to comment." Meanwhile Bobby Williamson appeared happy with the performance of the team in yesterday's game against Finnish Second Division side PS Kemi. While many were disappointed with the 'downscaled' result, Williamson looked at the deeper points of the performance with a few of the squad playing their first 90 minute game for months! Hibs.net Editor Stuart Crowther is now 'on the ground' in Finland and should be able to keep us up to date with all the goings on from Finland (provided he can get his Nokia working in the land of their 'birth'!).