HIBERNIAN manager Paul Heckingbottom is casting his eye over former Kaizer Chiefs striker Ryan Moon as he seeks to strengthen the Easter Road squad before the start of the new season.
Moon, 22, scored five goals in 29 appearances for the Chiefs before being released by the Johannesburg club at the end of last season.
The 5ft 11in forward, who has also netted once in eight appearances for South Africa, trained with Hibs at their Ormiston base yesterday.
Meanwhile, Heckingbottom has admitted that he expects Chris Maxwell to challenge Ofir Marciano for the goalkeeper’s jersey in his side when he completes his move to Scotland in the coming days. The experienced 28-year-old Welshman is set to join from Preston North End.
“He certainly has the pedigree to challenge for the No.1 spot,” said Heckingbottom. “We don’t want to bring a No.2 in, we want someone in who’s going to compete and hopefully make the team better. By adding that competition we are improving the side.
“Ofir was fantastic for us towards the end of last season. Now Chris coming in adds a powerful, athletic goalkeeper who is good with his feet and can help us play out from the back.
“I’ve seen a lot of him since his days at Fleetwood. I hope that’s concluded in the next couple of days.”
Hibs, though, have been dealt a blow after their left back Lewis Stevenson suffered a calf injury.
Heckingbottom was reluctant to say how long Stevenson would be sidelined for, but he admitted that he would miss their Betfred Cup matches.
“Lewis is fit every day,” he said. “He’s one of those who never stops training. He lives on the edge and pushes himself every day so it’s an unfortunate thing that he’s picked up a knock now.
“But I’d rather it happened now for him so we have him fit and available for the competitive games.
“Yeah, he’s missing pre-season, but Lewis was up near the front of everything at training anyway so when he comes back it will not take him long to get up to speed.
“We’ve got Sean Mackie, Steven Whittaker and Tom James who can all play on that side so we’ve got plenty of cover for that position.”
Meanwhile, Heckingbottom has confirmed that a move for defensive midfielder Funso Ojo is off after Scunthorpe United claimed the former PSV Eindhoven man is still their player and they are entitled to a transfer fee.
Ojo is adamant he had a relegation release clause written into his contract with the Glanford Park club – who dropped down into League Two in England last season - and
“We went down the route of trying to get him but there’s a dispute there between the player and club, which is nothing to do with us, so we’ve had to move on and look at other options,” he said.
“It would be disrespectful of me to speak about it. I know Paul Hurst has gone in as new manager and walked into this and has to deal with it. But it’s nothing for us to deal with, it’s between the club and the player.
“We believed and were told that he had a clause in his contract that meant he’d be a free agent if they got relegated. The player exercised the right to take that option and release himself from his contract.
“We spoke to Scunthorpe initially about it and it seemed like we’d get the deal done. But then it didn’t. They blocked it for whatever reason. We said you don’t have to explain anything to us, it’s between the player and club.”
Heckingbottom, meanwhile, confirmed that Dylan McGeouch, who looks set to join Aberdeen from Sunderland, wasn’t a player Hibs had considered moving for.
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