Lee Johnson admits derby hero Kevin Nisbet won’t be at Hibs much longer if he keeps hitting the levels he did against Hearts.
Galatasaray, Preston, Middlesbrough, Millwall and Sheffield United all watched the 26-year-old score in the 1-0 win last weekend - as did Scotland boss Steve Clarke. That was the striker’s 10th goal in 14 appearances since returning from an ACL injury in December.
And Johnson hopes speculation continues to mount on the 26-year-old - who u-turned on a move to Millwall at the 11th hour back in January. Nisbet is contract until the summer of 2024 but Johnson has no idea if he’ll still be a Hibs player beyond the summer. He said: “You never know. He is attracting a lot of interest. The Scotland manager was there at the weekend as well and there’s never a bad time to have that kind of game.
"My challenge for him is: ‘Go and do that again on Saturday now, when maybe the atmosphere isn’t quite as intense’. If he does do that then he probably won’t be here because someone will come in with a big bid that we can’t turn down. I hope the speculation builds because it means he is performing as well as he did on Saturday.
“I thought he was outstanding, his work rate, obviously the goal. You see now he is rolling his hips into people, he is pinning them, he is a big strong lad anyway.
“It was a great example when the ball came in during the Hearts game, he shaped up - I remember playing against Kevin Phillips who I thought was world class - low centre of gravity - dropped the shoulder, everybody was thinking he was going that way but big touch then spin then stuck someone down the line.
“I think Toby Sibbick was behind him and he absolutely went for a pasty on the back of that move.
“You can only do that if you have a great touch, great centre off gravity and spacial awareness and for me that shows a real high level of football IQ.”
Johnson revealed how sharing stats from some of the Premier League’s top striker’s had helped Nisbet take his game onto a new level.
He said: “It’s the player who puts the work in, we do our best as a coaching staff to highlight as many things as possible.
“A couple of games ago we felt he could have been working a little harder. So we presented him with a set of data of Premier League strikers and how hard they work and how he needs to get to that as quickly as possible.
“He does do that on a permanent basis but you are permanently trying to cajole them and push them and put your arm around them. Kevin is someone who needs that sense of belonging, I think he knows that we as a staff believe in him, and therefore he has to be professional enough to allow us to push him to bring his best as much as we possibly can.”
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