Owen Elding F Hibs b.2006

[Eirambler]

I don't know if he's technically eligible yet, but he's going to be and has been thrown in for his Hibs debut against Rangers so he may as well have his own thread!

[Eirambler]

Two months on and Hibs fans reckon they have unearthed a massive talent in Elding. They're already at the stage of hoping they can at least get one full season out of him before they sell him on for a sizeable fee.

He was player of the match today ahead of former Borussia Dortmund player Felix Passlack.

[Fixer82]

I don't know if he's technically eligible yet, but he's going to be and has been thrown in for his Hibs debut against Rangers so he may as well have his own thread!

If he’s lived here since he was six, why wouldn’t he be eligible? Surely he has Irish citizenship?
Isn’t it exactly the same as Ogbene? Moved here as a young kid

[tetsujin1979]

He is eligible, there's no question there, just taking time to receive his passport

[Eirambler]

If he’s lived here since he was six, why wouldn’t he be eligible? Surely he has Irish citizenship?
Isn’t it exactly the same as Ogbene? Moved here as a young kid

He doesn't currently have Irish citizenship. That's why he hasn't been in the under 21 squad to date. Until he gets Irish citizenship he is British only and therefore ineligible.

[liamoo11]

Do the sligo fans who wood have seen alot of both of them think he is better than Kenny?

[Fixer82]

Oh right, I see. So his parents just never bothered to get him citizenship?
Do you not need that to live in a country long term?

[OMTY]

Oh right, I see. So his parents just never bothered to get him citizenship?
Do you not need that to live in a country long term?

Not as a UK citizen in Ireland. And not as an EU citizen either. I have a few friends in similar situations. Some almost 20 years in Ireland. It costs almost a grand to get citizenship and they just weigh it up as not worth it.

[rebelmusic]

Didn't this just get sorted before the international window?

[Thewhitepele]

Do the sligo fans who wood have seen alot of both of them think he is better than Kenny?

Two very different players. Kenny was a speed merchant who got his shots off early. He was great on the counter attack.

Elding is a work horse attacker and technically gifted.

The reason I think Elding will go further in the game is he is worth his place in the team even if he isn't scoring goals.

He reminds me of Kevin Doyle in that respect who even in a nil nil draw would be man of the match. Hibs was a good move for him and he seems to listen to good advice eg. staying at Sligo Rovers until he was ready for the next step up and picking a club he would get game time at. The question is how many more levels can he go up.

[Eirambler]

Didn't this just get sorted before the international window?

I think the reports were that they were hopeful that it was close, but it is not yet sorted.

[liamoo11]

Two very different players. Kenny was a speed merchant who got his shots off early. He was great on the counter attack.

Elding is a work horse attacker and technically gifted.

The reason I think Elding will go further in the game is he is worth his place in the team even if he isn't scoring goals.

He reminds me of Kevin Doyle in that respect who even in a nil nil draw would be man of the match. Hibs was a good move for him and he seems to listen to good advice eg. staying at Sligo Rovers until he was ready for the next step up and picking a club he would get game time at. The question is how many more levels can he go up.

Thanks

[Eirambler]

The speed at which he has made the step up to playing for a top half SPL team is very impressive. A number of young players from the League of Ireland have gone over, arguably with more hype around them than Elding, and have taken a lot longer to make the step up, or not managed it at all.

We've seen a bit from Elding in terms of some of his goals for Sligo but, whether it's because he was with a club from outside Dublin or because he hasn't been in Ireland underage squads, he wasn't hyped as much as some others have been. The speed at which he has become a starting 11 player at Hibs is very encouraging. To put it into context, the players he is currently rated ahead of at Hibs includes:

Martin Boyle - 40 caps for Australia and heading for the World Cup
Ante Suto - Recent Australian squad callup
Dane Scarlett - England underage international who was given more Premier League game time by Spurs than Troy Parrott got
Elie Youan - Former French underage international

So he's already outperforming some decent players. His goal at the weekend is at the beginning of the highlights below. But his through ball for the second goal, shown straight afterwards in the highlights, is arguably more impressive.