Not sure those Soccerbase stats are correct. He has played a lot more than that this season.
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Not sure those Soccerbase stats are correct. He has played a lot more than that this season.
Ah yeah, still impressive for an 18 year old. Just not 11 goals in 10 games impressive.
If it is a straight decision between us and Celtic you would hope he would sign for us. Celtic has a reputation within Irish football as being a black hole for young Irish footballers where promising players go and never get a look in with the first team.
Having a full season of senior football at a decent level behind him it would be a massive backward step for him to go and mostly play for Celtic B in the Lowland League.
The Irish Independent now reporting that that Kenny move looks to be on, to go through on the opening day of the transfer window.
He has a €150k release clause that Hibs are willing to meet and the offer of first team football means we are likely to be preferred to Celtic.
€150k would seem to be an absolute steal for this player, but then Everton signed Seamus Coleman from Sligo 10 or so years ago for even less than that.
Incidentally the Kenny fee is going down very badly with League of Ireland fans, who have long felt that the league's best players are sold for well below their real world value. Parallels with Scottish players moving to England on the cheap I suppose.
I'm guessing since it's a release fee being met there will be no future resale clause of any significance involved. Probably just a question of first team opportunities at Hibs against potentially higher wages at Celtic for the player to decide on now.
Just to temper things slightly, when I googled Johnny Kenny I read this article which talks about the highly rated Irish youngsters that have move to Celtic and not kicked on. TBH it probably says more about the Celtic model than the players, however you would of thought that some would of shown their potential on their various loan moves.
https://thecelticstar.com/the-strach...-irish-talent/
This says more about Celtic than anything else though. Irish football is going through a noticeable upturn in terms of youth development after a very long period of producing very few players - which has led to the senior national team being in the poor state it is currently in.
However, the big exception to this has been the Irish players who have signed for Celtic who have, time and again, stalled or even gone backwards at that club. They don't seem to have any kind of joined up strategy for youth development, they just sign loads of young players and hope for the best. There is no development path to the first team so the players just end up on bad loan moves that don't help their development.
This is important in terms of our prospects of signing Kenny. Traditionally Celtic would have been the obvious club for him to sign for in this situation, but the issues with youth development at Celtic are well known in Irish football circles. The smart thing for Kenny to do here would be to sign for Hibs - unless he wants to waste away in the Lowland League like all the others.
Probably worth noting as well that none of those players mentioned in that article were signed from the League of Ireland. They were almost all signed from the youth setups of English clubs - which means those clubs had already looked them over and decided to let them go.
I do like these types of signings, however, I get the feeling some might be getting their hopes up a bit too much.
I would expect him to be a Dan Mackay type signing that doesn't go straight into the first team and needs to take his chances.
In saying that, Mackay has been out for bloody ages, when is he due back?
Gavin Bazunu - the Man City keeper on loan at Portsmouth - is probably the biggest prospect at the moment. Has a very high ceiling, only 19 and already into double digits senior caps for Ireland. Kelleher the Liverpool number 2 keeper is also Irish.
Then there are three young centre backs - Collins at Burnley, Omobamidele at Norwich and O'Shea at West Brom. The first two are two of the three youngest centre backs to play in the EPL this season, the other O'Shea, had the most appearances for an under 21 centre back in the Premier League last season.
Then the other one is Jason Knight, a central midfielder who is in the Championship with Derby but is expected to move to the Premier League in January. Very much in the John McGinn mould, I'm a big fan of his. We were linked to him on loan once, but it didn't materialise unfortunately.
None of those players are household names yet but all of them have a great chance I think.
McGrath is a bit older than those lads but is doing well also as a late developer. Has done well when given a chance with the Ireland senior team. I still think he would be a great signing for Hibs if we haven't missed the boat with him.
One other player to keep an eye on is Evan Ferguson at Brighton. He has only just turned 17 but has already had first team involvement. Will probably go out on loan when he turns 18 - I know our link up with Brighton isn't really about loaning players, but he is one we should consider I think.
If there’s still any chance of McGrath we should be all over it.
I said that last season his goals will likely earn him a move but people need to remember about 10 of them were penalties.
He was always going to score less this season but as a player he’s very good, he has a very good touch, passing, vision and eye for goal.
He’s also by no means lightweight for an attacking mid.
He would be a great addition for us and suit us to a tee
Now Maloney and Caldwell are all but confirmed, who do we think we’ll be going for? Any connections?
Both have obvious Celtic connections which could work in our favour. Maloney will hopefully have knowledge of some young Belgian players whilst Caldwell can tap into the under 23 market in England with his time at 23’s interim manager at Newcastle and loans coach at Man City
Based on nothing other than loose connections/knowledge of players I’ll say
Tony Watt - Celtic connection
Ewan Henderson - Celtic connection
Karamoko Dembele - Celtic connection
Mandela Keita - Young Belgian international
Koni De Winter - Young Belgian international
Who else we thinking/would you like?
Fwiw I think we’ll see a fair clear out in January and that’s not including our assets
Gogic
Wright
Scott
Wood - No longer training but officially off our books
I would have said Gullan but you never know, Maloney might like his energy and directness. Same with Hallberg as he gets around the pitch well and is comfortable on the ball. If not they’ll both be gone. Will Allan become more prominent for us again - he seems to suit the attacking style Maloney wants.
We’ll also have Mueller and Tait eligible to play.
A lot of room to manoeuvre
David Marshall
That’s a great shout, will know both them well and not getting a game for Derby.
Out of contract in the summer too.
Coming to the end of his career but Gordon and McGregor show that’s irrelevant.
Would just be if they want to spend that wage on a keeper when we have Macey who has had a good season and Dabrowski who is young with potential and then add in Mitchell who…..well I don’t know why he’s here.