The biggest Hibs talking point heading into deadline day is the future of Elie Youan.
Youan could be Stoke City-bound after the English Championship side turned in a £1.5million offer for the forward, who has missed the Hibees‘ recent games through injury.
That came after the Easter Road men rejected an initial approach from Blackburn Rovers, who were expected to come back in.
Whether or not they do so and try to rival the Stoke bid remains to be seen.
The Scotsman is now claiming there is also interest from abroad in defensive pair Rocky Bushiri and Lewis Miller, who are both out of contract in the summer.
Hibs have so far only brought Alasana Manneh in during the January window and there is possibly scope for more ahead of 11pm.
Hibs’ transfer deadline day plans
The Hibees were thought to be looking at doing more business than that, with the positions of goalkeeper, midfield and centre-forward earmarked at the outset.
The need for a shotstopper has diminished thanks to Jordan Smith’s form but there is still the possibility of outfield additions.
That would especially be the case if Youan was to move on.
And the Edinburgh Evening News is reporting that the Frenchman’s exit could spark a “flurry of activity” down Leith way.
It is claimed David Gray and his recruitment team will be working right up to the deadline and that the manager is keen to secure a signing on par with last year’s additions of Myziane Maolida and Emiliano Marcondes.
If Youan does leave, the priority would obviously be to replace him with someone with similar qualities.
Gray wants genuine quality and if that fussiness means ending up with just Manneh as a new addition, then so be it.
What has Gray said about Youan’s future?
Speaking after the Blackburn bid and prior to the Stoke one, Gray said: “Élie is someone who, in every window, attracts attention and speculation purely because of his attributes and the qualities he has.
“There is a lot of speculation around Élie but at this moment in time he’s still a Hibs player and until that changes there’s no real news on him.
“He’s injured at the moment; he needs to keep working hard to get himself back on the training pitch as quickly as he can.
“If he’s still here then brilliant; if he’s not and something comes up that we think is right for everybody involved then we’ll have to be ready to react in whatever way we think makes the club better.”
On incomings, he said: “You don’t want to bring players to the football club who won’t improve the squad.
“I don’t think anybody would ever bring a player to a club anyway, where the intention is not to try to make you better. Naturally, you won’t get every single one right but the intention is always to improve the squad.
“I’m in a very fortunate position that we’ve got players coming back. We still need minutes into a few boys and there are a few established first-team players still to come back which will improve the squad, so we are in a good place from that point of view, and once the window closes it’s not about whether we’ve done more business, not enough business, or whatever – it’s all judged on the results straight away.
“We need to be in a position when the window closes where we feel we’re stronger, to give ourselves the best chance to finish the season as well as we can.
“If we can do that, we’ve given ourselves a real opportunity, with where we are in the league, to end the season positively.”