Hibs have been handed a pre-season boost after Ryan Porteous and Stevie Mallan both returned to full training.
Porteous has been out since January after requiring a knee operation. The Scotland Under 21 international was injured early on in Hibs’ 2-2 William Hill Scottish Cup draw with Dundee United at Tannadice.
It was the second serious knee injury suffered by the centre back in 12 months, having missed the second part of the 2018/19 campaign with a similar issue.
But Porteous, who was linked with a move to Turkish giants Galatasaray in recent weeks, is now back training with his teammates after a lengthy rehab period.
Midfielder Mallan is also back in action after knee surgery of his own. The set-piece specialist aggravated a recurring problem in the 2-0 Edinburgh derby win over Hearts on Boxing Day.
Hibs monitored the injury but eventually conceded the former St Mirren man would have to go under the knife.
That ruled him out for the remainder of the campaign, but he was back being put through his paces this week as the Hibees made a socially distanced return to their East Mains training base.
They aren’t the only members of Jack Ross’ squad to have benefited from the enforced lay-off caused by the Scottish football COVID shut down.
Teammate Joe Newell is close to joining them after a persistent heel injury disrupted his first half of 2020, while Sean Mackie is expected back in the training pitch before the campaign kicks off on 1 August.
