Hibs head coach Nick Montgomery reckons Elias Melkersen was thrown in at the deep end too soon after his arrival at Easter Road - but firmly believes the Norwegian striker can be a strong addition to his squad when he returns from his loan spell with Strømsgodset.

The 20-year-old has scored four times in ten appearances for the Drammen-based outfit after former Hibs boss Lee Johnson sanctioned the temporary switch back in August and Jørgen Isnes, manager of the Eliteserien side, has made no secret of his desire to make the move permanent, describing Melkersen as ‘wonderful to work with’ and having ‘huge potential’.

Speaking to NRK.no, Isnes said: “Elias is thriving here at Strømsgodset but the situation is clear: he’s Hibs’ player, so we’ll see.”

The former Bodø/Glimt youngster is under contract at Hibs until the summer of 2026, and was unsurprisingly non-committal when asked about his future earlier this month by Norwegian media. His loan deal officially expires at the end of December, with the Eliteserien season running until early next month.

With Hibs not exactly blessed with hordes of strikers - Dylan Vente is the only fit senior out-and-out centre-forward, and even then the Dutchman has been struggling with illness in recent weeks - the return of a Melkersen with renewed confidence could be exactly what Montgomery needs for the second half of the season.

Confirming that he had already spoken to the Norwegian Under-21 internationalist, who could feature against the Republic of Ireland on Friday for Jan Peder Jalland’s side at Godset's Marienlyst Stadion, Montgomery said: “I’ve spoken to all the players who are out on loan - we’ve watched them, we do a weekly round-up - but unfortunately we haven’t had time to go and watch them live, because we’ve had a lot of games.

“I’ve spoken to Elias and watched his games and he looks like a very, very good young player. He’s a player who I know had a tough start at Hibs - I think he was probably thrown in at the deep end when he wasn’t quite ready, but I think the way that we play, with two strikers, he’ll definitely be an asset for us moving forward.

“He’s having a good loan spell at the minute, he’s scoring goals, so it’ll be nice to see him when he comes back.”

Melkersen was signed by Hibs during Shaun Maloney’s tenure but the former Scotland internationalist warned that the new arrival would take time to settle into the Scottish game, having played virtually exclusively on artificial turf pitches in his homeland. But he sparked cause for optimism when he bagged a brace on his first start for the club in a Scottish Cup quarter-final tie away at Motherwell.

Since then however, he has scored just once more in a competitive fixture; a League Cup group victory over Clyde last summer, although he did net a double in a friendly win against Burton Albion in Portugal before scoring the only goal in a 1-0 friendly victory over Norwich City at Easter Road. He was then on target in July in a 4-2 friendly win against Edinburgh City at Meadowbank but played just 66 minutes of competitive football, including a start in the shock 2-1 Europa Conference League qualifier defeat by Inter Club d'Escaldes in Andorra back in July, before being shipped out on loan. 

Melkersen’s time in Norway has been a resounding success compared to his loan spell during the second half of last season with Dutch Eredivisie side Sparta Rotterdam, in which he played just nine minutes of senior football across two substitute outings, and three games for the club’s B team, while being an unused substitute on no fewer than 18 occasions.