Cummings is not for sale, not now and not in January, say Hibernian
LEEANN DEMPSTER, the Hibernian chief executive, insists the club will not sell striker Jason Cummings in either this transfer window or the next, stating that “sometimes in football it can’t be about the money”.
The striker, who has scored six times this season, was the subject of a £1.7m bid from Peterborough earlier this month that Hibs rejected. With the window open until midnight tomorrow, there was a feeling the Easter Road club could yet be vulnerable to a late approach but Dempster categorically said the Scotland Under-21 player would not be leaving, with Hibs determined to return to the top flight.
“We turned that bid down because we want to get promoted this year,” she said as she helped launch Hibs “Persevered” Scottish Cup trophy tour.
“Jason is an integral part of the team. It says a lot for our club to be able to hold on to some of the strongest and best young talent in Scotland. I’m not worried about the transfer window closing because we are in control of that. We don’t need to be worried about a last-minute offer.
“Do we expect to get to midnight on Wednesday with our squad intact? Absolutely. Football is a strange game and you can never absolutely say never in this game. But I am saying never on this occasion.
“Nothing is happening in this window and we have no intention for anything to happen [with Cummings] in the January one either. Our eyes are firmly focused on getting to the end of the season.
“The club has run a Premiership operation for the last two years because once you scale back it’s harder to go back the way. It’s much easier to scale down than it is to scale up, but we decided right from the get-go we were not going to do that. There are points in life and in football where it’s not about money and it can’t be about money.
“We want to get promoted and selling one of Scotland’s best talents, the club’s highest goalscorer last season and someone who has continued in the same vein this season, doesn’t show the ambition we want to show. We have 3,500 more season ticket holders than we had this time last year so that is a help financially. Fans have bought their tickets, paid their money up front and that has put us in good shape.”
Instead, Dempster anticipates additions to the squad. “It’s now just about maybe one or two coming in depending on what happens over the next two days,” she said. Tuesday, 30th August, 2016