Elias Melkersen doesn't turn 21 until December 31, by which point he will, all being well, be on the cusp of featuring for Hibs once again, with his current loan spell at Strømsgodset officially lasting until the end of the calendar year.
But it feels very much as though he should be turning 23 or 24. That two-goal salvo against Motherwell in the Scottish Cup quarter-final was just a little over 18 months ago but so much has happened in EH7 that it would be little surprise if it turned out a greater period of time had elapsed.
That glancing near-post header from Sylvester Jasper's wicked cross, followed by chesting down Jasper's long ball forward, firing it across Liam Kelly, and the defiant knee slide afterwards with the outstretched hands as if to say, 'what did you expect'? It felt like the start of something for Hibs, for Shaun Maloney, for the striker. But it wasn't.
Shorn of the attacking talents of Christian Doidge and Kevin Nisbet through injury shortly after Martin Boyle's transfer to Saudi Arabian side Al-Faisaly, Maloney was left to rely on Melkersen and loanee James Scott in attack. If Melkersen felt the weight of expectation, he didn't show it, but it all felt a little bit too soon.
"I know he had a tough start at Hibs - I think he was probably thrown in at the deep end when he wasn’t quite ready," Nick Montgomery agreed, when asked about Melkersen, before adding: "I think the way that we play, with two strikers, he’ll definitely be an asset for us moving forward."
Hibs fans searching for a bit of optimism need only look at the rejuvenated Jair Tavares to anticipate what Montgomery and right-hand man Sérgio Raimundo could do with Melkersen.
Rewind to early July. The sun was still beating down on Meadowbank where fans had been treated to six goals in a friendly between Edinburgh City and Hibs, with Melkersen's header one of the visitors' four. Although we didn't know it at the time, Harry McKirdy had just been ruled out for the foreseeable with a recently discovered heart issue and Dylan Vente was still a few weeks away from arriving in the Capital.
Melkersen had spent the second half of the previous season on loan at Sparta Rotterdam, playing just nine minutes across two substitute appearances for the first team, and turning out thrice for the club's B team. None of his five outings yielded any goals. But he found the net on his return to Hibs and his confidence didn't appear to have been dented despite his time in the Netherlands. His candour was refreshing. There were no complaints about a lack of gametime, no thinly-disguised complaints about warming the bench - just a mature take on the experience.
"Everything I learned was positive and good for the coming season," he stated. "I don’t ever regret anything I do in my life. I believe I have developed as a player but also as a person. If you have an open mind and a positive attitude then you can learn from everything, and everywhere you are. Of course I wanted to play more but that’s life."
But despite positive words from then manager Lee Johnson, Melkersen featured just fleetingly in the early rounds of Hibs' Europa Conference League jaunt and briefly in the second league game of the season before returning to his homeland with Strømsgodset. After an unfulfilling time on the pitch in Rotterdam, there was hope that familiar surroundings might kickstart project Elias.
Four goals in ten games have helped lift Godset up the Eliteserien table and away from the danger zone, with which they were dallying prior earlier in the season. There was a degree of irony in Melkersen's arrival coming with the Drammen outfit facing something of a selection crisis in attack; last season's top-scorer, midfielder Johan Hove having left for Groningen in the Netherlands and promising striker Jonatan Braut Brunes - cousin of one Erling Haaland - bought by OH Leuven in Belgium. At least he was no stranger to that sort of pressure.
Manager Jørgen Isnes has purred over Melkersen's workrate and ability in front of goal. His four strikes for his loan side should have Hibs fans eagerly anticipating his return - one a stooping header from close range after a deep cross into the box is nodded down; another a fierce, angled drive from a cutback; the third a cushioned effort into the back of the net from a low cross after a late run into the box, and the fourth an audacious near-post flick from another cutback. You can picture Melkersen prowling the box waiting for the likes of Jordan Obita, Lewis Miller, Martin Boyle, and Élie Youan to pick him out - and he'll learn so much from training and playing alongside Adam Le Fondre as well.
Signed by one manager, not really fancied by a second - it will have to be a case of third time lucky for Melkersen at Easter Road but his work ethic combined with Montgomery's ability to get a tune out of any player should ideally mean no more false starts in green and white. If the first half of the season was the renaissance of Jair, then the second part can be the return of Elias.
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