HIBERNIAN have signed 20-year-old forward Steve Pinau from Serie A side Genoa on a one-year loan deal.
Pinau recently signed a five-year contract with the Italian club after spending four years coming through the ranks at AS Monaco, where he appeared for the first team towards the end of last season.
Hibs manager Mixu Paatelainen told the club's of
ficial website, www.hibs.co.uk, of his delight at his fifth signing of the summer. He said: "Our supporters have already had a glimpse of Steve in our pre-season friendly against Wigan Athletic, and I'm sure they will appreciate that he is a quick and exciting forward.
"We are delighted to have such a highly rated player at Hibernian for the season."
Agreement has been reached between the clubs and with the player and international clearance is awaited. Pinau is the fifth summer recruit at Easter Road following the arrivals of David van Zanten, Joe Keenan, Steven Thicot and Fabian Yantorno.
Paatelainen added: "It is always a good sign when a big club like Genoa signs you on a five-year contract from someone like Monaco. He broke into the Monaco first team towards the end of last season and in fact I went over there to watch him for myself but they were keen to keep him.
"Then he signed for Genoa and I heard that they would consider sending him out on loan for a year. Fortunately we managed to get him and I think that he will be a great addition to our squad.
"He may be a young player but he has already proved that he can score a lot of goals – he already has in a relatively short career."
The full article contains 293 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
