NEIL Lennon has admitted that Hibernian are closing in on the loan signing of Israeli international goalkeeper Ofir Marciano. The 26-year-old, who has ten caps for his country, has returned to his parent club FC Ashdod following a loan spell at Belgian outfit Mouscron. His agent is Dudu Dahan, who previously helped Lennon take the likes of Biram Kayal, Efe Ambrose and Nir Bitton to Parkhead, and the Northern Irishman is hopeful of completing a deal in the next week or so.
Hibs, who travel down to Shrewsbury for a friendly today, kick off their Championship campaign with a visit to Falkirk in seven days' time. While Lennon is happy with the squad which performed creditably in Europa League defeat to Brondby, he is hopeful of at least a further three new faces and there is a vacancy for an experienced goalkeeper at the club after Mark Oxley left this summer for Southend and Conrad Logan moved on.
“We are pursuing a number of players and it’s come out in Israel that Ofir Marciano is one of them," said Lennon. “I’m not going to deny that. We are hopeful of bringing Marciano in on loan, possibly at the end of the week and if not at the start of next.
"If we can get that one over the line we’d be delighted," he added. "He’s been on loan in Belgium but he’s back at his parent club now. I know his agent and he did some good stuff over the years for me at Celtic."
Liam Henderson, who helped the Easter Road club win the Scottish Cup when on-loan from Celtic last season, is also on Hibs' radar, although there are no developments yet in their ongoing pursuit of a player who worked under Lennon previously and has seen only limited match time under Brendan Rodgers. The Northern Irishman refused to comment on reports that Brian Graham, scorer of the goal which saw Hibs lose the League Cup final, is another target.
“With regards to Liam Henderson, we’ve made a call and that’s it," said Lennon. "Brendan will want to assess his squad so I can’t speculate what will happen there. As for some of the other names mentioned it’s purely speculation.
"Anyway, I don’t think the squad here needs major surgery," he added. "If I could add three more players I would be happy.
“It doesn’t need much work and I’ve been delighted with what I’ve seen so far.”
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