With the January transfer window fast approaching, Nick Montgomery will surely have his eye on reinforcements to put his own stamp on the Hibs team, with Adelaide United forward Musa Toure linked with a move to Edinburgh.
The 18-year-old, who celebrated his birthday less than a month ago, has only made a handful of appearances for the Reds but is already attracting attention - and not just because he became the third Toure brother to score for the Coopers Stadium side when he netted the fourth goal in a 6-0 drubbing of Melbourne City in late October.
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Toure comes from a football-centric family: eldest child Al Hassan, capped eight times by Australia Under-23s, currently plays for Turkish side Şanlıurfaspor on loan from Eyüpspor after spells with Croydon Kings, Adelaide United, and Macarthur FC while Mohamed, 19, also came through the ranks at Adelaide United before moving to Reims in France, and joining Paris FC on loan in August. Like his elder brother he has also been capped by Australia at under-23 level and made his first senior appearance during the recent friendly defeat by England at Wembley. Sister Mariam plays in the South Australian women's football league and youngest two children Bilal and Idris are on Adelaide Victory's books. Father Amara and uncle Ali, who fled Liberia for Guinea to escape civil war as teenagers, also had footballing careers with Amara playing in Guinea's second division and Ali playing with Adelaide Victory in the South Australian National Premier League.
Toure has played just 149 minutes of A-League football across the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons, all as a substitute, scoring once in that big win against Melbourne City. While Reds boss Carl Veart is deliberately drip-feeding Toure into senior football, FTBL reports that Hibs chiefs view the teenager as a potential starter with Easter Road head coach Nick Montgomery aware of Toure's promise from his time as Central Coast Mariners boss.
Attacking prowess
Although predominantly a centre-forward, he has also been used off the left wing and despite his limited gametime, features highly among the A-League's attackers for shots, touches in the box, average number of dribbles, number of offensive duels, progressive runs, recovering in the final third, and counterpressing recoveries for this season alone.
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From just 149 total minutes of top-team action he tops the rankings for touches in the penalty area with an average of 7.89 per 90, offensive duels (22.11 per 90 with an average success rate of 47.62%), and dribbles (average of 12.11 per 90 with a 52.17% success rate). He ranks second for progressive runs, attempting an average of 5.26 per 90 but his average progression distance of 164.78 metres is by some way the furthest distance, with nearest rival Nestory Irankunda, currently being courted by Bayern Munich, recording an average progression distance of 143.68m. He is also in the top three for recoveries in the final third with an average of 2.63 per 90, and the top five for counterpressing recoveries with an average of 3.16 per 90.
He isn't afraid to dribble from anywhere on the pitch, often starting from deep in his own half and on one occasion in the last 12 months, from his own penalty area. From a total of 102 dribbles, he kept possession 70 times, for a dribble success rate of 68.6%. His dribbling also led to 27 shots of which seven were on target and four were goals, giving him an xG of 2.10.
Performance in front of goal
Toure has scored just once in six games this season so far but has an impressive expected goals (xG) of 1.27 per 90 minutes. He has taken a total of 16 shots, working out at a quite astonishing average of 8.42 shots per 90 but his low xG of 0.08 can be attributed to the high number of shots he takes from outside the area - including the shot for his solitary goal so far, which he struck from inside the 'D'. Distance to goal is a key element of xG and Toure isn't shy at chancing his arm from range.
The graphic below shows Toure's shots from the last calendar year so it includes matches outwith the A-League. From a total of 43 shots, 27 were taken inside the penalty area and 15 outside the penalty area. Unsurprisingly he has a much higher xG for shots inside the box with 4.04, and a goal coversion of 22.2%, scoring six of his 11 shots on target, from 27 total attempts. Only four of his 15 attempts from outside the area have been on target, including that goal for Adelaide United against Melbourne City, giving him an xG of 9.38 and a goal conversion rate of 6.7%.
Although predominantly right-footed - 65% of his shots have been with his stronger foot - nearly a third of his attempts were with his left foot.
In terms of ball progression, his short passing needs work with just 50% of his progressive passes reaching their intended target. But he has a 91.7% success rate over 20-30m, and 100% accuracy over 30-40m and 40m+.
Defending
Toure has made 19 recoveries in the final third over the last year, with four of them leading to shots on goal, with one of them converted, with an xG of 1.05. Overall he has made 57 recoveries, 42 of them while counterpressing which should be of interest to Hibs. Of the 42 counterpressing recoveries, 11 took place in his own third, 13 in the middle of the pitch, and 18 in the final third.
Through a combination of inaccurate passes and lost duels he gave up possession 129 times in the last 12 months, with the majority - 65 - coming in the final third, 53 in the middle third, and 11 in his own third. He also posts a loss rate of 71.4% in terms of events after a progressive run - essentially, his team loses possession in the aftermath of nearly three-quarters of his progressive runs. The remainder is accurate pass (14.3%), shot (6.1%) and goal (2%).
For comparison, Élie Youan's loss rate is 74.7% (albeit from a larger sample size). The Frenchman has lost the ball 404 times in the last year and loses it an average of 12.34 times per 90 which is slightly above the league average. Martin Boyle has played less than Youan in the past 12 months but has a loss rate of 64.3% and a loss rate of 7.91 per 90, which is quite a bit below the league average.
Why are Hibs interested?
It comes as little surprise that Hibs are being linked with A-League players, given Montgomery's time in charge of the Mariners and the success so far of Lewis Miller at Easter Road and the string of Australian players in the cinch Premiership. Other notable alumni from the Adelaide United youth system include St Mirren right-back Ryan Strain, Grasshoppers winger Awer Mabil, and Middlesbrough midfielder Riley McGree - all of whom have senior caps for the Socceroos.
We know Montgomery enjoys working with younger players having already handed first-team league debuts to Josh Landers, Rudi Molotnikov, and Rory Whittaker and helping bring on Miller, 23, Rocky Bushiri, just turned 24, and 22-year-old Jair Tavares.
In terms of style of play, Toure's father Amara is keen for his children to remember their African heritage and focus on entertaining - and to 'add some flavour and spice' to the Australian way of playing football. Speaking about Musa in an interview with SBS he said: "He's not as physically strong or quick as Al Hassan or Mohamed, but technically and tactically he's ahead. He reads and understands the game very well, and is aware of everything going on around him. We refer to him in the family as 'the Brazilian'. He's very calm, confident, and clever as a player. He's really a number ten whereas Al Hassan and Mohamed are more in the winger and striker mould."
Conclusion
A fairly physical, pacy centre-forward who can operate on the flank and plays more like a number ten? Sounds like an ideal fit for the way Montgomery operates with his fluid front four. Although still young and raw, Toure would fit in well to the Easter Road frontline, able to fill in on the left flank or up top, but also able to drop deep and link play between the midfield and the attack.
Toure is a promising talent with plenty of room to improve. He has already indicated a desire to play in Europe and has designs on representing Australia like his brothers. The price to prise him away from Adelaide in January is unlikely to be eye-watering and with his contract up at the end of the current A-League season the Reds might be tempted to cash in to avoid losing him for nothing.
Montgomery's reputation for developing younger players plus the chance for Toure to get himself on the map in Europe could prove pivotal. On top of that, with Martin Boyle on international duty with the Socceroos during the AFC Asian Cup, which starts in mid-January, there could be ample opportunity for Toure to get an early chance in the team - and for Hibs to solve a potential temporary selection issue.
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