Nick Montgomery makes Hibs transfer admission as he shares Man Utd's thinking on Will Fish

Hibs head coach Nick Montgomery admits he is confident Will Fish will be at Easter Road for the entire season.

The centre-back has established himself as a first team regular in what is his second loan stint in Leith from Manchester United. And with Rocky Bushiri away at the Africa Cup of Nations with DR Congo, the 20-year-old’s availability to Montgomery has become even more important.

But Montgomery insists there is no indication that his parent club want to recall him. He said: “This is a situation we’ve spoken about. I don’t think there is any danger in Will moving on. Fingers crossed, he’s going to be here for the season, unless some offer comes in for Will that he can’t refuse – and Man United can’t refuse. But nothing has changed. They’re happy with his progress, Will is really happy here. So hopefully, once we get through this window and Will stays, he’ll be here for the season. I think he’s really enjoying his football at the minute, so fingers crossed.”

Montgomery is more focused on adding to his squad as he seeks to bring in as many as four new faces. But the Hibs boss admits many of those are likely to be loan recruits rather than permanent signings.

Montgomery, who is taking his Hibs charges to Dubai for a training camp next week, added: “It’s very hard to bring players in on permanent deals in January. “It’s a better opportunity to bring in potential loan players that can come in and help us, and us help them get out of clubs to play games.

“The clubs help us by giving us good players, that’s the whole point of a loan system. There’s no point in bringing loan players to sit on the bench. I’ve got young players on the bench and I don’t want to block their development, and that’s all you’re going to do if you