Even from his role as first-team coach, David Gray would have seen the impact Kwon Hyeok-kyu had in the St Mirren midfield as the Buddies roared to a Scottish Premiership victory over Hibernian in February.
The Easter Road boss highlighted that performance, and his others for the Paisley side, as he spoke about the South Korean under-23 internationalist in glowing terms following his arrival on a season-long loan from Celtic.
"He's got really good quality, technical ability, and he's physical as well. He's a good athlete, covers the ground well, and I was really impressed by him when he went on loan to St Mirren. I spoke to a number of people about him and got a lot of good references and I've seen why. I'm delighted we've brought him in and with how he's started."
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In his first interview with HibsTV, Kwon said: "I can control the tempo and create goals and assists for my team-mates. I can make the win for Hibs."
Not since Dylan McGeouch have Hibs had a metronomic conductor at the base of midfield capable of pulling the strings and letting others play, namely Scott Allan and John McGinn.
Putting that sort of pressure on Kwon, to emulate a Scottish Cup-winner and one-third of the team's most successful midfield for a while, would be doing him a disservice when he's barely in the door - but there is a real hope at Hibs that his presence, both in a literal sense and a tactical sense, might help a dysfunctional engine room.
So; what can we expect from Kwon?
Best position in midfield
He's versatile enough but with Gray likely to opt for formations that call for either a double pivot or three central midfielders in varying combinations, Kwon looks like an ideal fit in defensive midfield. He is comfortable as the right-sided six in a 4231, or as the deepest-lying midfielder in a 433 or 4141.
If Gray wants to play a back three - like he did against Elgin City in the first Premier Sports Cup group game - then Kwon could slot in as one of three central players in a flat midfield five, sit that bit further back if a more defensively-minded approach was required, or play as one of two central midfielders behind a number ten in a more attack-focused 3412
Plenty of flexibility, which is just the way the head coach likes it. But even though Kwon has occasionally featured as an attacking midfield and even briefly on the left wing, it would be a surprise if he wasn't ordinarily picked as a six.
What do the stats tell us?
In short, not a great deal. But we can glean a certain amount of information from his appearances on loan at St Mirren during the second half of last season, which offer a picture of a fairly raw player getting to grips with Scottish football who has promise in certain areas.
The graphic below compares Kwon to the league average for players in his position.
As you can see, he is a good bit above average for pressures and pressure regains (when the ball returns to the possession of the player immediately following an executed pressing procedure) and slightly above average for tackles, interceptions, passing, and deep progressions but his numbers relating to turnovers are slightly concerning, showing that he commits an average of 2.17 unforced errors in relation to possession each game.
That could be down to adjusting to the league and after an impressive showing in pre-season for Celtic, it will be interesting to see if he has managed to work on this particular weakness.
How does he compare to Hibs' other midfielders past and present?
On the one hand, it would be beneficial if any new midfielder was a different profile to what is already at the club but on the other it is useful in terms of comparing styles to look at the sort of gaps Kwon will be filling.
For example, in terms of passing, interceptions, tackles, pressure regains, and pressures he is close to the sorts of numbers Jimmy Jeggo was posting during the second half of the 2022/23 campaign, when the arrival of the Australian scrapper arguably improved the Hibs midfield in their late run to European qualification and a final-day shoot-out with Hearts for fourth place.
There are also similarities with 22/23 Nohan Kenneh but crucially, Kwon is showing up better in terms of pressures and pressure regains.
In short, Kwon will - ideally! - be filling a role currently missing from the Hibs engine room as well as bringing composure and physicality to the side, and while there are obviously areas of his game that need work, it's worth remembering that his numbers for last season are a very small sample size and despite that, Stephen Robinson was very keen to extend his stay in Paisley.
It's worth remembering that he was featuring as a deep-lying midfielder for the Buddies and in South Korea, he was often used as a ball-winning midfielder, particularly by Gimcheon Sangmu, so his defensive stats being more impressive than his attacking metrics is little surprise.
The player himself believes Hibs is the ideal place for him to improve and, having had a taste of the league last season, is ready to kick on his term.
“The Scottish Premiership is very physical so in pre-season I developed my physicality. I’m looking forward to this season, and want to give 100% in every performance and show my ability," he said.
“I know Hibs has a great history and I think I can develop my abilities here, and that’s why I wanted to come here. Last week I saw Hibs’ match with Celtic and supported Celtic; this weekend I am supporting Hibs! This weekend’s game will help me understand more how Hibs play and means I can see my teammates’ movement."
If Kwon can step in and make that defensive midfield role his own then it might ease the pressure on some of his engine-room colleagues, who have been having to fill a number of roles in recent months, but it might also help the team as a whole be more competitive in the middle of the park. With Gray having tried a number of combinations to little effect so far, and with Kwon having enjoyed a full pre-season with Celtic, the smart money would be on him pushing for a starting berth for the visit of Dundee on August 24.
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