The transfer situation surrounding Hibs star Elie Youan has just escalated.
We told this week how the Hibees had received an offer for Youan Blackburn Rovers, rejecting the initial approach.
But it was believed the English Championship side were unperturbed and ready to come back with an improved bid ahead of Monday night’s January transfer deadline.
Hibs boss David Gray spoke on the current state of play around Youan as he spoke to the press yesterday to preview the clash with Aberdeen.
But, while the manager prepares for that one, there has now been a development.
Stoke City bid for Hibs’ Youan
Youan has had interest throughout his time at Easter Road and one of the clubs previously thought to be in for him was Stoke City.
The Potters have now reignited their interest and submitted an offer after seeing Championship rivals Blackurn have theirs rejected.
That’s according to STV News’ Raman Bhardwaj, who claims the bid is worth £1.5million plus potential add-ons.
And that represents better value than Rovers’ attempt, which was believed to be below the £1m mark and not much more than what Hibs paid to sign him from St Gallen.
That places Stoke as the new frontrunners to sign the 25-year-old before the window closes.
Latest Hibs transfer state of play
Hibs this week completed their first signing of the January window when they managed to land midfielder Alasana Manneh from Danish side OB.
Offering an update on whether anything else could happen, Gray 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.”