Hibs attacker faces uncertain future after training camp omission

The Portuguese attacker notched a goal and an assist as well as missing a penalty on Tuesday night as the Easter Road side’s development side drew 2-2 with East of Scotland outfit Dunbar United at New Countess Park, and he is set to be involved again when Guillaume Beuzelin, Gareth Evans, and Darren McGregor take the young team down to Shielfield Park to face Lowland League side Berwick Rangers on Saturday in another friendly encounter.

Tavares failed to make the matchday squad for any of Hibs’ post-split fixtures towards the tail end of last season, and his last outing for the first team was as a late substitute during the 2-1 defeat by Dundee United in April and in total, he got just 11 minutes of gametime across two appearances from the subs’ bench after the turn of the year.

Earlier this year Johnson urged the former Portugal under-19 cap to be more switched-on in a tactical sense, and revealed that his physical maturation was ‘a bit behind’ where it ideally should be. The two long-term injuries suffered by winger Aiden McGeady also had an impact on Jair’s progress as he was unable to learn his craft from the experienced wideman.

“His signing was marketed as him coming from Benfica and getting the number ten shirt but actually he needs a lot of time,” Johnson told the Evening News. “This is a player who should have had ten or 15 minutes off the bench after McGeady, so maybe we should be better at articulating the story to the fanbase for each player. We hoped he would be able to learn from McGeady. That was part of the plan.”

It remains to be seen what happens with the player this season. He is unlikely to be satisfied with playing for the development team and potentially getting the odd few minutes here and there as a substitute for the first team, and the Evening News understands Hibs would not stand in his way if he wanted to leave either permanently or on loan.