ABDESSALAM Benjelloun won't be present when his Hibernian team-mates gather for pre-season training at the end of this month but manager Mixu Paatelainen has insisted that nothing should be read into this.
The striker, who scored for Morocco in a World Cup qualifier against Ethiopia last weekend and is due to face Mauritania tomorrow night, has simply been given extra time off to recover from his international exploits in Africa.
Benjelloun is repor
ted to be unsettled at Hibernian after a disappointing end to last season. In a campaign disrupted by injury he made only 18 appearances and scored just one goal. However, Paatelainen has backed a fully-fit Benjelloun to make the same kind of impact at Easter Road as achieved during his first season with Hibs, when he scored 14 goals. This total included a brace in the CIS Cup final win against Kilmarnock.
"Benji will come back a little bit later – he needs his rest and he will get it after the Morocco games," said Paatelainen.
"It was a difficult season for Benji, I agree," he continued. "He had injuries and when he played we did not get the best out of him. Maybe that was because he was not ready to come back. But after pre-season training I am sure he will score loads of goals for us."
"You can never say someone is not moving but as far as I am concerned at the moment Benji is staying," he added.
Yves Makalambay is someone else the Hibs manager wants to see remain at the club. However, Paatelainen admitted the goalkeeper could be absent from Easter Road for the duration of the Olympics, which begin the night before the SPL season kicks-off. Makalambay, who has also been linked with a move away from Hibs, has caught the eye of the Belgian Olympic football squad.
"He joined the Belgian squad for a training week and a practice game a couple of weeks ago," confirmed Paatelainen. "If he's away it obviously affects us. But we have (other] keepers."
The full article contains 350 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
