Hibernian sporting director Malky Mackay has laid out his vision for the club's partnership with Bournemouth, which is led by billionaire owner Bill Foley.

Mackay is seeking quality over quantity in his summer recruitment, as he looks to help David Gray strengthen the squad and improve on Hibernian's disappointing performance in the previous Scottish Premiership season.

The tie-up with Bournemouth, which was formalised last season through the Black Knight FC stake, allows Mackay to work closely with Cherries chief Simon Francis.

Mackay sees this relationship as an important part of his plans for Hibernian's future.

However, the former Ross County boss acknowledges that before bringing in new players, Hibernian must first offload any underperforming members of the squad. Then focus will be on adding only those individuals who can make an immediate impact on the first team, rather than bringing several players in through the Bournemouth link without a real purpose.

Asked how he plans to work along side the English Premier League side, Mackay said: "We’re certainly going to try, put it that way. Myself and Simon Francis is the communication angle, he’s new in his job but has been at the club; he’s now the sporting director now that Richard Hughes has gone. He’s going to have his own mindset on their needs in the new role.

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"But we will have an ability to have conversations. I’m certainly going to go down, spend a bit of time down there. There are a lot of facets of sports science, the academy, best practices we can share. Obviously recruitment is the one area everyone wants to focus on. But that’s got to be based on a player, a very specific player who is going to come and make a difference to our team."

Myziane Maolida proved a positive loan addition in January, displaying that he could instantly integrate into Scottish football. As did Emiliano Marcondes, who arrived on a temporary deal from Bournemouth. 

But there has also been instances of new recruits failing to hit the ground running and proving a waste of budget, which is something Mackay is desperate to avoid.

Speaking to Edinburgh Evening News, Mackay continued: "So as we saw last year, it’s got to be on an individual basis. We can’t just go for four players a year.

"There’s no point if there is only one player who can hit the ground running in the Scottish Premiership. There’s no point in the other three. Or if there are none able to do that.

"But certainly we hope to be able to lean on each other in recruitment if that’s down to analysis or finding out about a player. That’s certainly how I see it working, communicating regularly, honestly and openly with a partner."