JAMES KEATINGS believes Hibernian’s prospects of glory in the Championship and the League Cup will be considerably enhanced if they ignore suitors for his strike partner Jason Cummings in the January transfer window.
That said he would not be averse to his fellow Celtic academy graduate Michael O’Halloran making a move south given the impact he is having on St Johnstone, the team that stands between Hibs and the League Cup Final.
Rotherham, fast becoming cut adrift at the bottom of the English Championship, have not hidden their interest in Cummings as Neil Redfearn desperately seeks to avoid plunging into League One.
However, Keatings hopes that the potential for tangible success at Easter Road would trump a higher salary in Yorkshire.
"If we can keep Jason then he will keep improving and scoring goals for us,” said the former Hearts and Hamilton attacker.
"If a club comes in for Jason then he would have to sit down, look at the bigger picture and make a decision.
"He is enjoying his football and you can tell that because he has a smile on his face at training and he is enjoying scoring goals.
“He is really enjoying his time at Hibs and I fully believe that he will be here at the end of the season.
"Jason is a great player and I believe going into a game with him that he is going to score a goal out of nothing.
"He will score in the first or last minute but I am always convinced that he will get a goal for the team.”
Many had written Hibs off when they trailed their Ibrox rivals by 11 points but Keatings never lost faith and having slashed that gap to five with 12 wins and a draw, his confidence is even higher.
It has also reinforced his belief that he made the right decision to turn down Premiership clubs and work for Alan Stubbs when he left Tynecastle last summer.
He said: “We are winning week in, week out and I believed we could catch Rangers even when they were 11 points in front of us. I fully believe 100 per cent now that we can do it.
"I had the opportunity to play in the Premiership as I had four or five teams wanting to sign me. I was close to signing for Kilmarnock.
"I felt that I could learn a lot more by signing for Hibs and I don't regret my decision to come here.
"The manager swayed it as he was magnificent with me at the start of the season and I had a good, long chat with him and I truly believed that this was the place for me to go.”
While Cummings is undoubtedly vital for Hibs, O’Halloran falls into the same category for St Johnstone and Perth team mate Brian Easton feels he has become the talisman of the team in a similar way to Stevie May, a prolific scorer before moving to Sheffield Wednesday.
Easton said: “He offers something different to Stevie. Mikey’s pace and power is frightening. He’s scoring goals and setting them up. Just his all round play is tremendous.
“Mikey can definitely go on to the same great things as the strikers I played with at Burnley.
“Getting to work with guys like Charlie Austin, Danny Ings and Jay Rodriguez every day was fantastic.
“Mikey’s got all of the attributes, the pace and the power and now the finishing skills, he’s definitely on for a good move at some point. But hopefully we can hold on to him for this season anyway.
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