Hibs Wonderkid
Owen Elding walked into Easter Road looking like the kind of signing folk argue about before they’ve even seen him kick a ball.
Nineteen years old, straight out of Sligo Rovers, four hundred grand on the table, and half the support wondering if Hibs had just paid over the odds for a kid who’d barely filled out. The other half were squinting at YouTube clips trying to work out if the goals were real or just the camera angle doing him a favour.
Then he started playing and the whole thing shifted. There’s a moment with some players where you can tell they’re not spooked by the step up. Elding had that from the first touch. Strong through the hips, quick over the first five yards, the kind of stride that makes defenders take a half‑step back without meaning to. And there was a sharpness to him, a wee glint, like he knew exactly why Hibs had taken the gamble.
Three goals in seven games is tidy for any new striker, never mind one who arrived in the middle of his own pre‑season. But it wasn’t the numbers that caught people. It was the way he played. The opener against Kilmarnock, the way he shaped his body before hitting it, then the pass for Felix Passlack’s goal, a proper striker’s assist, the sort that tells you he’s not just a finisher. He sees things early. He reacts before defenders do. There’s a bit of menace in him too, that shoulder‑to‑shoulder stuff where you can almost hear the centre‑half thinking: this boy’s not going away.
Folk in Ireland had been raving about him long before he arrived. You can see why now. He looks like he belongs. And with the way the market moves, with the way clubs down south throw money at potential, you can already hear the chat starting. Bowie went for six million. If Elding keeps climbing at this rate, Hibs might end up naming a training pitch after him.
For now, though, it’s simple. He’s given Hibs a spark in the final third, dragged them back into the fight for Europe, and made Easter Road feel a bit more alive every time he gets on the ball.
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