Hibernian head coach Jack Ross admits he wants to help Flo Kamberi achieve his career aspirations after insisting the striker is not interested in moving to Poland.
Ross confirmed that Lech Poznan had enquired about the 24-year-old last week, but both the club and the player gave short shrift to the attention from the Ekstraklasa side.
Kamberi has scored eight goals for the Leith side this season and still has 18 months to run on his current deal.
Ross had failed in bid to recruit the Albania call-up at Sunderland before Kamberi converted his loan from Grasshoppers into a permanent deal at Easter Road in summer 2018.
And the Hibs boss is desperate to retain the marksman, who made his 24th appearance of the season in Sunday’s 2-2 Scottish Cup draw at Dundee United, beyond January.
Ross said: “I think they (Poznan) were in contact last week but I do not think there’s anything beyond that.
“There was no encouragement from the club and also Flo – I spoke to him on Saturday primarily about the game on Sunday but in the conversations I have had with him he has no appetite for it.
“He is happy where he is at the moment.
“I think he has a pathway he’d like to pursue in his career and hopefully I can help him do that, but he will only do that if he has that consistency of performance like he produced in the main on Sunday.”
Kamberi initially caught Ross’ attention with his nine goals in 14 outings for Hibs in the second half of the 2017/18 campaign and the Hibs boss insists the player offers much more than his prowess in front of goal
Ross, who also played down suggestions of striker Marc McNulty returning to Hibs for another loan stint, added: “There’s absolutely no appetite from me not to have him at the club, he is a player I have liked for a long time.
“I tried to take him to Sunderland when I first went there. He has been good, it’s just about getting that consistency of performance out of him because when he is good he is very good.
“He brings qualities that aren’t easy to replace and obviously there is a bit of versatility in the role he can play.
“So for me it would give me a problem if we lost him. I don’t think we will, that’s my honest view.”
Ross, meanwhile, confirmed the club failed in a bid to bring back Scottish Cup-winning hero Liam Henderson after the former Celtic trainee last week opted to remain in Italy with a loan move to Empoli from Hellas Verona.
He added: “We had had some discussions and it was certainly something he was not ruling out and had an appetite for.
“He is held in high enough regard in Italy to have other opportunities as well and that is what happened.
“I think when you have the opportunity to stay where he is in terms of country that was his preference, and that’s fine.”
Ross hopes to discover on Tuesday the severity of the knee injuries that forced Jason Naismith and Ryan Porteous off at Tannadice after the pair were sent for scans on Monday.
Ross, whose side host Hamilton on Wednesday, added: “Knowing they won’t be there allows me to plan for that game and whatever happens after that I will deal with.
“We have to await the outcome of the scans.”
Hibs, meanwhile, have also confirmed that midfielder Josh Vela has left the club for Shrewsbury Town on a free transfer, six months after joining from Bolton.
