Hibernian boss Neil Lennon wants Socceroo Jamie Maclaren to return to the club following a successful loan spell but isn’t expecting to see him back.
Maclaren, who appears to have missed the latest cut for Australia’s World Cup squad, finished his four-month stint with Hibs with a hat-trick in Sunday’s 5-5 draw with Rangers in the Scottish Premiership.
The treble took the 24-year-old striker’s season tally to eight goals from 15 league appearances for the Edinburgh club.
Maclaren had joined Hibs from German 2.Bundesliga club SV Darmstadt 98 in January after failing to hit the scoresheet in eight substitute appearances following his switch from Brisbane Roar.
He is expected to re-join Darmstadt, where he has two years remaining on his contract, after they won their final three league games to avoid relegation to Germany’s third tier.
“Jamie… that’s out of our control with Darmstadt,” Hibs boss Lennon said.
“The way he’s been scoring goals, he’ll probably walk back into their first team.”
Hat-trick on the Final day! Loved being apart of this special group of lads 💚... time to switch off from Football and enjoy a holiday 🏖✈️☀️ pic.twitter.com/4Qk3m6eETs
— Jamie Maclaren (@jamie_maclaren) May 13, 2018
Maclaren was one of a handful of players on loan at Hibernian this season, with their futures unclear, along with Brandon Barker, Florian Kamberi and Scott Allan.
Lennon added: “We’d love to have them back. There’s no question on that.
"We don't know where we are with the loan players but I would imagine a couple of them will be here.
“I would say they will look back on this time in their careers very, very fondly.
“What the club have done for them and they've done of the club has dovetailed very well for their careers.
"They've made a huge contribution to the season - whether we can get them back or not is another thing."
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