Rudi Molotnikov has revealed that manager David Gray gave him the assurances to pen a long-term contract with Hibs.
The 18-year-old attacking midfielder is certainly one for the future at Easter Road and signed a deal that will expire in the summer of 2029.
He joined Hibs at the age of just 10 and where many others have failed, Molotnikov has managed to progress his way through the academy and into the first-team.
Molotnikov made a great start to the campaign in the Premier Sports Cup group stage games with two goals and an assist in five matches.
He was then handed five consecutive Premiership starts by Gray as a reward before spending a bit more time on the bench.
An injury blow kept him out for the entirety of December, a month which proved to be the turning point in Hibs’ season, but he’s now back available and ready to fight for his place in the team.
Speaking to the press ahead of Hibs facing Clydebank in the Scottish Cup, Molotnikov said he would not have signed the new long-term contract if he knew he wasn’t going to play regularly.
Gray assured the Scotland U19 starlet of that and as a result, Molotnikov thinks the future is looking good for him because of the belief in him from the gaffer.
The teenager said: “I wouldn’t just sign if I knew I was just going to sit on the bench and not play at all. That’s what the gaffer said to me, he said that we believe in you. The future is bright for me and that was a really big moment.
“To be fair, it was quite an easy option. There’s no-one else that I would feel is going to believe in me like the manager has. I love this club so I wouldn’t see why I would change it for anything.”
Molotnikov looks up to Hibs captain Joe Newell
Every young player coming through to the first-team needs a mentor and Molotnikov has revealed, unsurprisingly, that mean is skipper Joe Newell.
The youngster sits next to the experienced midfielder in the dressing room and it has allowed a relationship to blossom between the pair.
Molotnikov says his friendship with Newell is exactly what he needed and the advice he passes on to him is extremely valauble.
Molotnikov went on: “I moved into the first team dressing room maybe a couple of months after the start of the season.
“I was obviously in the academy at the start of the season, so it was weird going out to training and having lunch at the academy.
“Now I’m in the first team dressing room, it’s really good. I mean, I was very nervous at first – but I sit next to Joe Newell and Dwight Gayle, so I couldn’t pick two better people to be beside.
“Joe has been different than everyone else. As I said, I sit beside him, so every time I come in the morning he’s there and he’s just helped me massively on the field, off the field.
“He’s made me understand football in a different way and he’s been a good friend to me as well, which is what I needed.
“He makes me understand that it’s not all about playing football, it’s about finding the space, knowing when your next pass is going to be.
“In the academy it’s not as fast, you have time, but he was really bedding in that this is going to step up, this is where you need to prove yourself.”