Hibs sporting director Graeme Mathie is unhappy with what he sees as English clubs attempting to sign their young talent on the cheap
Premier League clubs making “patronising” bids for Hibernian youngster Josh Doig need to show the Scottish Premiership club more respect, according to their sporting director Graeme Mathie.
Doig has been the subject of much transfer speculation this summer, after the 19-year-old left-back hugely impressed in Scotland’s top-flight last season.
Arsenal, Watford and West Ham have all been linked, but reports state that none have made bids of more than £2.5 million – only half of Hibs’ £5m asking price.
What has been said?
According to Mathie, the English clubs have been making derisory bids because they are trying to sign a player from a Scottish team, and therefore think they can get him for a much reduced fee.
He told Vavel: “If Josh Doig performs how he performed last season in English League One and got to a national final, teams would be willing to spend far more money on him, rather than if he was in Scotland.
“We finished third in the league, we’re in Europe, we got to a cup final, and these bids are really disrespectful.
“I would love it if a club were to come to me and say that ‘we think we can turn this boy into a £50m player, here’s how we’re going to develop him, we’ll give you x if he achieves this, and we’ll give you y if he does that, and within a certain number of years, we think he would be at the top level of the game’.
“That makes a conversation far easier, as it becomes less of a transaction and more of a relationship, but right now, we feel some clubs have been quite patronising and more transactional, and it is hard, and for the boy himself, obviously, he wants to go to a bigger club like every other young player, but he is also happy here.”
Mathie also says that while they accept Doig will leave for a larger club, they have a responsibility at Hibs to ensure he gets the right move for his career.
He said: “We want to be in a position to say, ‘Thanks for trusting us with your development and we can’t wait to see you shine at the next level’, but no clubs are making that easy for us. The worst thing I could do is sell Josh to a club that then only plays him in the Under-23s!”
Who is Josh Doig?
The full back hugely impressed with the Edinburgh club in 2021-22, helping them qualify for the Europa League and being linked with Chelsea, Manchester City, Leeds United, AC Milan and Celtic at various points.
The defender – following in the strong recent tradition of left-backs set by Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney – has two years left on his current contract, meaning Hibs can hold out for a significant fee for one of their brightest young stars.
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