THE McGINNS AND OUTS
Lenny set for January moves but hopes star John isn’t one
NEIL LENNON wants to reinforce his Hibs squad in January’s transfer window – but hopes he won’t need to replace John McGinn.
The Scotland midfielder was man of the match in last week’s 1-0 friendly defeat to Holland and his boss is braced for bids.
Lennon wants to strengthen for the second half of the campaign having led the club to third in their first season back in the top flight.
However, he fears Hibs will be offered a deal they can’t refuse for 23-year-old McGinn after rejecting Nottingham Forest’s advances in August.
Lennon, whose side made it four wins in a row against Dundee 12 days ago, said: “I would like a bit more depth to the squad. Going into the Dundee game we only had 18 fit players and by half-time we’d lost three of them.
“We’re a little bit light in numbers so we’ll look in January to see if we can strengthen. I don’t want to over-egg the squad either but we will look at areas where we could do with an extra body.
“We’ve had a bad run with injuries – which is outwith our control – but we will look to add one or two to the squad.
“Plus there is probably an inevitability about bids coming in, particularly John.
“We have to be realistic about that, weigh it up and be prepared for that eventuality if it does happen.
“If the club get an offer they can’t refuse, that could potentially alter what we have to spend. I’m hoping that won’t be the case but the way John’s playing it’s going to be very hard to hold on to him for the foreseeable future.”
While keen to do business, Lennon insists he’s only interested in landing potential first-team regulars. He said: “We are looking at players for recruitment in January and hopefully we can get one or two in of the quality who can help us do what we want to do as opposed to just being squad fillers.
“We definitely don’t want a big overhaul though. Continuity has been really important for us.”
But he insists his pursuit of Kris Commons hasn’t progressed as the playmaker recovers from a back operation.
He said: “We didn’t feel he’d be ready until the turn of the year anyway so we’ll just keep an eye on that.”