Neil Lennon has admitted that John McGinn’s departure from Hibs is inevitable.
Celtic remain interested in the midfielder but some reports have claimed that Brighton ‘are in talks’ with the Edinburgh side about McGinn.
If Brighton are interested they’ll need to move fast with the English transfer window closing at 5pm on Thursday shortly before Hibs take on Molde in the Europa League.
Should the English side convert their interest into a bid Hibs will need to decide whether to lose their top player on the eve of an important European tie or hold on to McGinn knowing that there is still three weeks to negotiate a deal with Celtic.
Adding to the complications it is far from certain that the player would want to join the EPL outfit.
Reflecting on the dilemma yesterday Neil Lennon told The Sun: “It’s inevitable that John’s progress may be elsewhere, but whether it’s in the next few weeks or 12 months remains to be seen.
“Three offers from Celtic have not matched our valuation. It’s inevitable there will be other interest, given how he’s playing.
“There has been no bid from any other club but I’d be very surprised if there aren’t more.
“I’m selfish, I don’t want it to happen because you can see how good he is at the minute.
“I don’t know if there have been talks with Brighton, but it wouldn’t surprise me.”
During the summer Hibs lost Dylan McGeouch to Sunderland after they allowed the former Celtic midfielder to run down his contract.
It’s believed that St Mirren are due one third of any transfer fee that Hibs get for McGinn.