Lee Johnson admits Demetri Mitchell is looking 'razor-sharp' and he could be a weapon for Hibs against Celtic this weekend.
That is the dilemma facing the Easter Road gaffer as he weighs up whether to chuck in the former Hearts loanee for the Parkhead showdown. The former Sunderland boss is yet to see him play a 90 minutes since his arrival at the club but his top level performances in training have given the 41-year-old food for thought.
He believes the former Manchester United man will be almost like a new signing and says his squad is getting stronger and stronger with the returning players including Mitchell, Kyle Magennis and Rocky Bushiri. Momodou Bojang and Jake Doyle-Hayes are still a couple of weeks away from a return while star striker Kevin Nisbet and back-up goalkeeper Kevin Dabrowski have resumed training.
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Speaking ahead of Saturday's meeting with Ange Postecoglou's table toppers, Johnson said: "Demetri Mitchell is training extremely well and looking razor-sharp.
"He’s almost like a new signing for us. That’s a decision we have to make: is he ready? I haven’t seen him in a 90 minutes since I came to the club but his training standard has been outstanding enough to put that in my mind, that he could be a weapon for us.
"I feel like we’re getting stronger. The returning players, and I’m still including Kyle in that, are getting more minutes under their belt, more training, more GPS numbers. We’re becoming a stronger unit, a stronger outfit.”
He continued: "We’ve got to be careful with Kevin [Nisbet].He’s flying, and well ahead of schedule, but we’ve still got to be careful in our expectations of a) when he returns and b) what we remember of Kevin Nisbet, as opposed to the true Kevin Nisbet.”
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