David Gray 'delighted' with Kwon signing and backs loan star to be success at Hibs

David Gray is “delighted” with the loan-signing of Celtic midfielder Kwon and has backed him to be a success at Hibernian.

The South Korean was loaned to St Mirren for the majority of last season and has now joined the Easter Road side for the duration of this one.

Hibs confirmed the year-long deal on Tuesday and the manager has already been impressed by what he has seen so far.

He said: “We’re seeing it straight away, over the last two days on the grass, he has got real quality and technical ability but also his physicality as well.

“He is a really good athlete, covers the ground well and someone I was very impressed with when he was at St Mirren last season, I spoke to a number of people about him and they had glowing references for him and I’ve seen that for myself straight away.

“So he is someone we are delighted to bring in and I am delighted with how he has started.”

The 23-year-old will have to wait for his debut however with Hibs travelling to Glasgow to take on his parent club in League Cup action this weekend, meaning he is ineligible.

It will be the second weekend in a row that Gray’s side will face the Scottish champions after Celtic left Edinburgh with a 2-0 victory and three Premiership points on Sunday.

And the head coach insists that could help his side cope better with the test that coming up against the Hoops will provide.

He said: “The good thing about playing Celtic back-to-back is that the challenge they faced last week will be fresh in the players’ minds and how that felt, so will they have a better idea of what to expect, for some of them it was the first time they had played Celtic.

“It’s always a different challenge going away from home as well, with the atmosphere created there, so that’s something else we need to adapt to and be ready for and make sure the players are ready.

“So I think it helps having that feeling so fresh as well as the disappointment we had as a group, I think we all know we need to be better and we have worked on that this week.”