‘Ridiculous’ bid needed to secure Cummings
HIBERNIAN boss Neil Lennon has warned clubs chasing striker Jason Cummings that even £5million might not be enough to convince the Easter Road club to agree a sale.
The Championship side turned down an offer of around £1.7m including add-ons from Peterborough United on Thursday and saw the 21-year-old, who signed a new four-year contract last month, take his tally of goals for the club to 50 with a brace in a 2-1 win at Falkirk.
‘We have no need to sell,’ said Lennon. ‘Everyone has a price, but I would doubt that there are many clubs who could meet our valuation of Jason.
‘If someone comes in with a ridiculous offer, the club have something to think about, but he is happy here.’
Asked how much the kind of ‘silly money’ required might be, Lennon replied: ‘I don’t know — £5million. People pay a lot of money for potential, but I am telling you that we won’t sell.
‘I’d have to go and start again into the season, right before the window shuts, looking for players to replace him.
‘Even if we sell him for £5m, we are going to have to spend money to replace him, so his actual worth will be less.
‘It was good business by the club to get him on a long-term deal and he is happy. He is the king here at the moment and long may it continue.’
KING of the Castle at Easter Road and mummy’s little prince at home. Why would Jason Cummings want to go anywhere else despite the growing interest in his services as a prolific and ever-improving striker?
His words and actions were certainly emphatic enough at Falkirk yesterday.
If anything, the unsuccessful offer submitted by Peterborough on Thursday seems to have intensified his focus on helping Hibs secure promotion from the Championship.
Within 90 seconds of this visit to a side rated one of their main rivals for the title, he had opened the scoring. Early in the second half, he secured the points with a well-taken strike to render Craig Sibbald’s earlier equaliser meaningless.
Cummings’ post-match demeanour suggested that he is more than happy with the club’s determination to keep him. Edinburgh is his manor and clearly means a lot to him.
‘Teams might come in for me, but I don’t think I am ready to go down south,’ said the 21-year-old. ‘As a player, I do think I could go down there and score goals.
‘But off the pitch, I can’t even boil an egg. My mum does everything for me and I would be a bit lost without my family and friends.
‘I love Edinburgh and my mind is clear. My main goal is helping Hibs into the Premiership.’
Cummings will be invaluable to Hibs this season and the club is right to adopt the kind of poker face in negotiations which they did when securing top dollar for the likes of Scott Brown and Steven Fletcher in the past. They certainly needed Cummings at Falkirk. It was not a hugely impressive display with manager Neil Lennon admitting he wanted more composure on the ball, but Cummings’ quickfire opener proved he was on top of things.
James Keatings released an angled drive from the right of the area, which was palmed out by Falkirk keeper Danny Rogers. Cummings showed great awareness to steer the ball into the empty net.
Falkirk’s response was swift. With just nine minutes on the clock, John Baird took advantage of hesitant defending and passed to Sibbald. From around 25 yards, he released a thunderous left-footed effort which flew past Ross Laidlaw into the net.
Cummings then had a lob held by Rogers after he had outfoxed Luca Gasparotto and he would get the better of the former Rangers defender again three minutes into the second period.
Both players were left to joust for the ball inside the area following a flick from Grant Holt and the Hibs forward forced the ball home.
Gasparotto complained to referee Kevin Clancy about handball from Cummings, but it fell on deaf ears, with manager Peter Houston focusing, instead, on a defensive unit that looked vulnerable throughout.
‘I have to question the goals we lost,’ he said. ‘It was a ball over the top for their second one. It was a poor one from our point of view.
‘Our boys will always come up with something, but I didn’t see a handball. Whether it was a handball or not, Luca should do better.’
In the closing stages, Falkirk sprung into life. Substitute Lee Miller controlled a John Rankin pass but was denied by an excellent block from the advancing Laidlaw.
Nathan Austin saw penalty claims waved away after going down under pressure from Darren McGregor.
‘I don’t think it was a penalty,’ said Houston. ‘He went down too easily.’