Hibs boss Jack Ross insists Kyle Magennis has all the ability in the world to go as far as he wants.
And he urged the former St Mirren youngster to focus on achieving big things with Hibs as he prepares to face his former club for the first time on Wednesday night.
The midfielder got his first goal for the club when he netted the opener against Dundee United and although they didn't manage to hold on for the win, Ross was delighted with his performance.
After suffering a serious knee injury playing for St Mirren in January, Magennis has played just nine games for the Easter Road club but Ross is confident he will continue to develop.
He said: "I spoke before the Dundee United game that he was in a better place physically and psychologically than even perhaps when he came into the club because of the slight hamstring injury. I think feeling at home in among his team-mates and staff and new surroundings to only knowing one club prior to that so he was in an all round better place going into the weekend.
"I was delighted with him and in fairness he may have been able to last longer but I think we needed to manage him through this period but he’s making really good progress.
"His performances are going up, his contribution at the weekend was obvious with the goal but his all round play was good.
"Each individual player has a different outlook on it. From my own point of view I don’t think too much about it, there’s some who feel it brings added edge to their game. In reality is in the modern football world it will happen fairly often, such is the transient nature of the game and the nature of it.
"I think for Kyle, undoubtedly, it will have added significance because he spent so long at St Mirren and it’s the first time he’s come up against them but I don’t think it will be a determining factor. He’s shown his desire to be a big player for us."
Ross gave Magennis his debut for the Paisley club before signing him for Hibs this summer, and he reckons that confidence boost of knowing how he feels about him will help the 22-year-old.
He added: "Because I gave him his debut and I played him regularly I’ve always had a lot of faiths in his abilities. I think he knows that which is encouraging for him, so when he’s made this move he knows how much faith I have in him. I do think he has growth in him yet, he’s got improvement in him, he’s got a lot to achieve in his career and he’s got the ability to do it all as well.
"We’d like him to do that while he’s a Hibs player and it goes hand in hand in making us a successful team."
