Major Hibs update on three injured stars - as Elie Youan case goes on

The 25-year-old Frenchman was subject of transfer interest from Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City in the transfer window, with both English Championship clubs tabling bids for the ex-Nantes man. But by as the deadline passed, Youan remained at Hibs.

His injury status may have played a part in that. Youan has not played since the Boxing Day Edinburgh derby win over Hearts due to toe injury that was expected to take only a week or two to heal. An injection and several weeks later, the tricky wide man is still on the sidelines.

Poor head coach David Gray must be sick of the same questions on Youan, who on his day is one of Scottish football’s most dynamic forwards. We are still none the wiser as to when he will return after the latest update on his condition.

"I've said many times he was a really frustrating one because that was one that I thought could have been days,” Gray said on Thursday on Youan. “When I think back and I'm sure when you look back over all my press every week, I'm saying Elie could be available this weekend and I think then naturally the longer that goes on, it's almost impossible for him to be available because he's not actually been able to get the time on the grass to get the minutes into the legs to get him ready to train him.”

A glance at Youan’s Instagram stories will tell of a man doing all he can to come back. He has been using a physio from France to aid his recover. “To have the risk of injury that comes with that, he's been out for a significant period of time now, so he's now having to go through a bit of a rehab program to make sure we get him back to speed and that's took longer than we'd expect,” explained Gray.

"It's like anything, if you've hurt your hand and you've hurt your thumb, you don't realise how important your thumb is until you've actually hurt it. His toe's been exactly the same. It's been this thing that's really restricting him when he's running and as a result of that it's been a lot slower than we'd hoped. But everything is slowly getting there - it's definitely improving but it's been an extremely frustrating one.”

Captain Joe Newell is another who has not been seen this year. He required an “intervention” on a groin injury that has been hindering him throughout the season. "Maybe just a week or so,” said Gray on his midfielder. “A lot of that's not to do with any significant setback or anything like that - it's just been a case of making sure we get it absolutely spot on, he gets as strong as he can be within that area because he was playing with a sort of niggle for such a long period of time.

“As much as a frustration as a coach because you want your players back as quick as you can, a little bit of a sacrifice for a couple of weeks theputs him in a far better place to finish the season really strong, without maybe missing a step or two to try and get him back on the grass quickly.”

Gray also hopes to have Marvin Ekpiteta back in contention soon after the defender returned to training this week after a thigh complaint. "He's good,” added Gray. “He's been back training the past couple of days. This week will be too soon but he's getting there.”