Hibs’ on-loan midfielder Emerson Hyndman insists that he is not looking to be a ready made replacement for John McGinn who moved to Aston Villa earlier this week.
Head Coach Neil Lennon was quick to sign the Bournemouth midfielder who experienced the Scottish game during a loan spell with Rangers where he was named young player of the year despite only being with the club for half a season.
The Texas born player was thrown into the action immediately starting on the bench against Molde on Thursday night’s Europa League clash.
He came on for the last 10-minutes and showed the fans enough to suggest that he will be a valuable member of the squad and almost became an instant hero with a late effort that keeper Andreas Linde did well to keep out.
Speaking after the final whistle, Hyndman said:“I am not looking to be anyone’s replacement or to get a label, I just want to go out and do the best I can for the team, whatever position I am asked to play.
“The deal happened very quickly because of the European game.
“It has been a quick transition because I haven’t even trained, so to get on the pitch was nice.
“But I am glad it got done in time and I was able to feature.“It has been tough with not much football.
“I have been in and around the Bournemouth first-team squad but it has been a grind training behind the scenes a lot of the time. There were talks last season about moving on loan again but nothing in depth.
” A club like Hibs have big ambitions. They did really well last year and that is something I was aware of because I keep up with the league.
“I saw they were doing well and when I heard of their interest I was quick to jump on it. This is a big opportunity for me.”
“There was also interest from elsewhere and I had to take that into account but I decided to stay.
“It was a tough year but I got through it and now I am looking to make the most of it.
“My last actual game was Burnley last season, which was my debut in the Premier League.
“We had a few pre-season games, four or five. I came on against Marseille and then I featured in most of them.
“Eddie (Howe) fully backs the loan because he knows I need football. He was fully with this because he understands.
“I am sure he will keep up to date with how I am doing and he will call me here and there, but right now I’m just focusing on Hibs and doing my best for them.
“You can say I haven’t played a lot of games but the training at Bournemouth is hard.
“I have been doing a lot of running behind the scenes so when I came on against Molde I felt sharp, mentally and physically.
“I saw the schedule before I came up, there are games every couple of days. It’s up to me to get my fitness up and I’m sure that will come naturally.
“It is a similar situation as to when I came up to Rangers. I came off the bench there and then got 90 minutes in the next game.
“It is all about keeping your mind fresh knowing it is going to be a challenge. I just take each game as it comes.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
