It’s a market fraught with danger but laden with potential. An environment where one of poker’s golden rules – if you look around the table and you can’t tell who the sucker is, it’s you – most definitely applies.
It says everything about the innate optimism of football fans, however, that the cold, cruel, barren month of January can be enlivened by the merest whisper of a new arrival from some random club in a country that most couldn’t locate with GPS. If every Hibs supporter ever to belt out a Proclaimers song could rhyme off a dozen dud acquisitions who arrived amid fanfare and false promises, hope springs infernal.
They’re not necessarily looking for Mr Right. Just Mr Right Now. A player who can drag them up the table, inject a bit of enthusiasm into the atmosphere at Easter Road, tip the balance in those tight games currently ending in draws or damning defeats. Not much to ask, is it?
You’ll all have your own memories – fond and not so fond – of mid-season signings who made some sort of impact. Here, we look at some of the most interesting characters to have pitched up at Easter Road over the past ten years:
1. Martin Boyle (January 2015)
IMPACT: What a deal Hibs did in swapping Alex Harris for Boyle in a loan arrangement with Dundee. Only scored four goals as the Hibees finished second in the Championship. But electrifying pace and trickery marked him out as a player of obvious potential. AND THEN: Signed on a permanent deal in the summer of 2015, Boyle has since become an Easter Road icon, his contribution only interrupted by a six-month stint in Saudi Arabia that earned him a lot of money – but couldn’t keep him away from ‘his’ club.
2. Flo Kamberi (January 2018)
IMPACT: Where had this guy been, right? An instant hit, the multi-talented, multi-national, multiple threat scored nine goals and captured the hearts of Hibs fans after joining on a six-month loan from Grasshoppers. AND THEN: Signed a three-year deal at the end of the season. Could never be accused of being the most industrious line leader. Might as well have slapped Hibs fans in the face when, after securing a loan deal at Ibrox, he declared: “Ever since I came to Scotland it has been a dream for me to move to Rangers …” Let’s never speak of him again, OK? Photo: SNS Group
3. Anthony Stokes (January 2016, second of three spells at Hibs)
IMPACT: Ah, the old callback routine, eh? Return of the former favourite etc. Arguably one of the most productive half-season loan spells of the past decade. His contribution included a Man of the Match performance at Hampden as Hibs lifted the Scottish Cup. AND THEN: How long have you got? Suffice to say that lifting the Cup with Hibs was a career highlight for a striker who has since wandered the earth – including returning to Easter Road on a two-year deal that lasted six months – in search of something to match that triumph. Photo: SNS Group Bill Murray
4. Elias Melkersen (January 2022)
IMPACT: Teenage striker didn’t play until March because of work permit issues. Scored a couple in a Scottish Cup quarter-final win over Motherwell. AND THEN: Just fell off the radar, heading out on loan and barely registering in the minds of supporters … until Hibs flipped him to Stromsgodset for a profit of nearly £1 million a few weeks ago. He’s banging in goals for the Norwegian outfit, obviously. Photo: Craig Foy - SNS Group