Site Editor offers his opinion on Jason Cummings amid reported interest from the English Championship.
Hibs star striker Jason Cummings has this week been subject to speculation over a possible move to the English Championship with reports suggesting QPR & Barnsley are interested in the player whilst supporters have also suggested both Brighton & Derby may be keeping an eye on his progress.
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As is well documented, Hibs threw out a £1.7m bid from Peterborough during the summer transfer window and although the exact structuring of the deal was never made public the general consensus being Hibs would have been lucky to get around half up front of the stated offer.
The Scotland under 21 star somewhat divides supporter opinion with some happy to have accepted the offer from Posh and others looking for dreamlike figures of £4-£5 million but what is his true valuation?
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At just 21 years of age he can most definitely improve his all round game but as a goalscorer he has the uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time although work could still be done on his one on one’s.
Cummings is certainly not one for scoring too many wonder goals (glancing header at Tynecastle apart) but it doesn’t stop him from having a blast from outside the area or trying audacious attempts from the penalty spot.
He’s certainly predatory and if you discount the first 16 games he started for Hibs as a raw teenager then his scoring ratio of 56 goals in 103 league & cup ties is very impressive and regardless of the level you’re playing at, natural goalscorers don’t grow on trees.
Hibs can ill afford to lose a player of his quality midway through a crunch season for the club with promotion being the only game in town for this campaign and if you compare Cummings stats to our other strikers (Holt 3 goals in 16 appearances, Graham 4 in 17 and Keatings 1 in 13) then his 12 goals in 20 including 4 in his last 4 games show his true worth to the side.
Clearly if a ridiculous bid was to be made then the player would be leaving but it’s a moot debate as English clubs looking to spend money are more than likely to be searching for the finished article in the January transfer window rather than blast millions on a player untested at the highest level in Scottish football.
If there is interest in him and there’s no reason to doubt otherwise, any bids are more likely to be made at the end of the season as teams look to build for 2017/18 and by which time JC is likely to have broken the 20+ goal barrier in the Championship adding a little more to his potential value.
Hibs simpy have to be promoted and keeping a hold of Cummings is a priority to enable them to go up as Champions as no supporter wishes to go through the play-offs again, a format heavily weighted in favour of the Premiership side fighting relegation.
