‘Let’s enjoy Brandon as he is out of our league’

IF they couldn’t compete with a £500,000 bid for Preston-bound Motherwell striker Louis Moult, Hibs can forget about landing on-loan Manchester City winger Brandon Barker on a more permanent basis.

Enjoy him while you can, folks. Because, according to Neil Lennon, the 21-year-old is definitely bound for greater things — and may already be outwith the reach of even a well-run Scottish Premiership club.

‘You’re talking Man City here,’ cautioned Lennon, when pressed on buying Barker. ‘You’re talking wages, transfer fee — so it might be just a little bit out of our remit. We were quite keen on Moult but he’s gone to Preston for half a million pounds. It’s very, very difficult.

‘We’re enjoying having him (Barker) here. It seems to be working successfully for both parties. We’ll see where it goes — but a permanent move would be very difficult to do.

‘He’s brought an extra dimension. We have Martin Boyle one side and him the other — they are a real threat. I just enjoy watching him play. He’s a throwback. He wants to get to the byeline, get inside, he has that dynamic burst of pace, he wants to take people on.

‘Some people say his end product is not great but that’s nitpicking.

‘When you have three players hanging off you and you’re running 40 yards with the ball at that pace, it’s a very difficult thing to do.

‘I’ve admired him for long time. On Wednesday, against Rangers, you could see why. He was breathtaking.’

Lennon (right) admitted his tactical instructions to Barker, in line to start at Pittodrie this lunchtime, are limited.

‘I can’t coach that,’ said the ex-Celtic midfielder. ‘It was always my job to pick up the bits for the (Henrik) Larssons and a (Didier) Agathes of this world. Nine times out of ten, or seven times out of ten, they got it right. And a lot of stuff he did the other night he got right.’

Today’s trip to Aberdeen rounds off a tough week for Hibs, who kicked it off with a battling 2-2 draw at home to Celtic and then lost to Rangers despite dominating for long spells at Easter Road.

Lennon, who confirmed keeper Ofir Marciano will start despite his howler for the visitors’ second goal on Wednesday, is adamant his team are playing well enough to get more than just plaudits and perhaps a single point today.

‘There’s that old saying you’d rather be lucky than good,’ he said. ‘I’d rather be good than lucky — because your luck runs out eventually.

‘And Rangers know they got away with it on Wednesday. So I’d rather be in our dressing room at the minute than theirs.

‘We can’t keep playing as well as that without winning games. We just need to find the net. The pace we’ve played at, the quality we’ve shown, the pressure we put on Rangers — they know they’ve got away with one. And that’s a back-handed compliment, really.

‘I think we’re due a hammering to somebody. That’s the third game now where the opposition keeper’s won man of the match.

‘We’re not scoring enough when in the ascendancy. We’ve had 3-0 a couple of times but haven’t hit home with a four or five. ‘I’m not saying we are going to do that against Aberdeen. But we are creating enough chances. We need to start getting the second goal quickly and putting teams away earlier. ‘But Aberdeen look like they’ve got their mojo back, they are playing with confidence again. So it’s going to be tough.’