'Fans are anxious for new faces - so will Hibs finally deliver?'

With Celtic announcing the return of Jota on Monday, Hibs were left as the last team standing in the "We've not signed anyone yet" race.

David Gray has pointed to the return from injury of key players such as Mykola Kuharevich, Kieron Bowie, Joe Newell and Marvin Ekpiteta as being like new signings, and there's no doubt he now has enhanced options.

But I doubt any Hibs fan is convinced the return of those players alone is enough to finish the season strongly, particularly when the teams around us are bringing fresh faces in.

Garvan Stewart joined the club last year as head of recruitment and he is tasked with improving the quality of signings identified, as well as aligning Hibs' recruitment with that of the Black Knight group – his experience working at Bournemouth was a key factor in his appointment.

So far, though, we're yet to see the fruits of his labour. There is a line of thought his input might have stopped us going forward with targets below the standard we want.

There's probably some merit in that suggestion given the hit-and-miss recruitment of previous windows, plus we all know the line about January being a notoriously difficult month to sign players (though it's never stopped us or other teams).

Hibs fans are anxious to see new faces in the door sooner rather than later as the end of the window draws near. Will it be the case of good things come to those who wait, or will we be left hoping Gray's revival with this group of players continues to take us up the table?

Matty Fairnie can be found at Longbangers Podcast