David Gray delighted Elie Youan remains at Hibs after positive transfer window

David Gray has said he is delighted to have Elie Youan as part of his squad following the closing of the transfer window and is pleased with the state of his squad.

The Easter Road club only made one addition last month, bringing in midfielder Alasana Manneh from Odense, but did fend off interest in one of their players.

Stoke City made an unsuccessful bid of £1.5m plus add-ons for Elie Youan but that move fell through and the French forward remains a Hibs player.

Gray said that was a big plus for him, and he hopes to work with the player in the remainder of the season and hopefully beyond.

The head coach reflected on the month as a whole and is happy to have kept his in-form squad together and working on climbing the table.

“I’m delighted with the squad,” he said. “That’s a big part of it.

“We only brought in the one addition in Alasana, which is brilliant to bring him in and give us a bit of balance in midfield. There’s strength in depth, competition in that area.

“The big thing was keeping hold of key players. The likes of Elie Youan always comes up in speculation because of the level of player he is.

“For me personally, and for the club, to keep him until the end of the season at least, but even moving forward, his full focus is getting back on the pitch and back to a level where we know he can be so effective.

“My challenge now is to try and improve him between now and the end of the season because trying to replace someone like that can be very difficult, given the qualities he’s got.

“So delighted with where we started the window to where we ended it.

“It’s a real close group here. The momentum is building, the culture is really good and I was very conscious of that moving forward.”