Hibs bid £1m for Luke McCowan before Celtic swooped as Malky Mackay explains why there was no backup

Malky Mackay has revealed that Hibs bid £1million for Luke McCowan in a last gasp attempt to sign him from Dundee.

They lost out to Celtic after seeing four previous offers booted out by Dundee, and fans were left miffed that there was no back-up option in place. The Hibees did bring back Nectaris Triantis on loan from Sunderland and added defender Jack Iredale from Bolton Wanderers, but the one punters really wanted was unveiled along the M8 before making his Hoops debut against Rangers on Sunday,

But Mackay refused to be drawn into paying over the odds for a second choice, with clubs aware that the Easter Road outfit had money to spend and very little time in which to spend it. It was McCowan or no-one by that stage as far as he was concerned, and insists it went right to the wire in an attempt to bring the former Dens Park skipper to Leith.

"The Luke McCowan one was very particular signing,” he told the Edinburgh Evening News: “It was one who clearly is one of the best midfielders outside of the Old Firm, in Scotland. And data backs that up. Forget the naked eye. His numbers over the last two years show how productive he’s been, so he’s a very specific player. There are not a lot of them around. Certainly in the timescale we were looking at. To go and find another version of Luke McCowan, that’s not easy.

“Now, we had an owner absolutely willing to back that signing. Let me be really clear about that. I’ll tell you that he wanted to back it to the tune of a million pounds. The man was prepared to back that. I don’t mind saying that our owner was going to spend that. Obviously once Celtic come in, you are not going to get that player. There’s not a lot we can do about that.

“But our conversations with Dundee were all