INVERNESS Caledonian Thistle, the SPL's basement club, have moved to strengthen their squad by taking full-back Thierry Gatheussi and winger Filipe Morais on loan from Hibs for the rest of the season.
Manager Craig Brewster hopes to hear today whether former Scotland defender Steven Pressley will also join on a short-term deal.
Morais and Gatheussi were both signed by John Collins but have found it difficult to break into the first-team at E
aster Road under Mixu Paatelainen.
While two players have departed, the Hibs manager wants skipper Rob Jones to stay, and the club have vowed to report Colchester United to the Football Association after the Coca-Cola League One club made public their bid for Jones.
Hibs last night confirmed they had turned down a £100,000 offer for the 29-year-old defender after United posted details of the bid on their official website. The Clydesdale Bank Premier League club broke their policy of not commenting on transfers to reveal they had immediately rejected the proposal.
"Given the 'confidential' marking of the incoming fax, it was a surprise to learn that Colchester United had subsequently posted a picture of the Hibernian player on its website along with a story stating that a 'six figure' bid had been lodged for the player," said a statement on www.hibernianfc.co.uk.
"The story fails to mention that the offer was immediately rejected.
Meanwhile, Paatelainen will not rush Jones back from the hamstring problem which forced him to miss last weekend's Edinburgh derby.
"If he does too much, there's the chance the problem will recur so we need to be careful," Paatelainen.
The full article contains 281 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
