Former Hibs boss Neil Lennon has revealed that he tried to bring Ryan Christie to Easter Road last term.
The pair now work together at Celtic, but the ex-Hibees manager revealed the two could’ve joined forces in Leith last year.
He told the Scotsman: “I actually wanted Ryan at Hibs as part of the McGinn deal if it happened. I’d been impressed with him when he was on loan at Aberdeen.
“We looked at a lot of footage of him this time last year when I was at Hibs. We knew of his capabilities.”
A case of what could’ve been between Hibs and Christie
In hindsight this would’ve been a stunning move for Hibs. Christie has went on to become a key man at Parkhead.
This time last year Christie didn’t seem to have much of a hope of breaking into the Celtic first-team. He’d had a decent loan spell at Aberdeen, but it wasn’t amazing.
Hibs could have benefitted massively from his services, especially given how well he went on to play. They missed a bit of attacking force from midfield last season after losing Scott Allan again.
Christie would have plugged that gap. Who knows how well he would’ve performed, but some Hibs fans would definitely have taken him last summer.
A year on from Hibs interest though and so much has changed. Christie’s now a Celtic mainstay, Lennon’s left Hibs and Paul Heckingbottom is now the man in charge of the Leith based club.
Who knows what would, and perhaps wouldn’t, have happened had Christie moved to Leith last year.