Thursday 5 January 2017 15:13, UK
Hibernian manager Neil Lennon has revealed he will speak to on-loan Celtic forward Kris Commons about his future at the start of next week.
Lennon's side are looking to extend their lead to four points over Dundee United at the top of the Championship table when they face them in front of a sold-out crowd at Easter Road on Friday night.
Commons hooked up with his former Hoops boss on an emergency loan on December 16 and he is due to leave Hibs on January 10.
The 33-year-old was instrumental in helping Hibernian earn a point on his debut at Greenock Morton, and he scored a late winner in a 2-1 victory at Falkirk on Hogmany to send the team to the top of the table.
When asked if he is hopeful of retaining the 2014 PFA Scotland Player of the Year, Lennon explained the situation was out of his hands.
"I'd like to keep him a lot longer, but that's between the two clubs and what Kris's thoughts are as well. The loan is up on the 10th of January, so that only gives us to midweek next week," Lennon told Sky Sports News HQ.
"He's a player I've known for a long time. I worked with him at Celtic for three-and-a-half, four seasons and we know his qualities.
"He hadn't played a lot of football before he came here and there was a little bit of ring-rust, but you can see more and more his match sharpness coming back, and he can win games on his own.
"We haven't discussed that [his future] yet. I'll sit down with Kris after the weekend and see how he feels about it, and try and take things forward from there."
Lennon is relishing the prospect of facing United after losing 1-0 in the corresponding fixture between the teams at Tannadice on December 2.
"I think the anticipation has been building all week and certainly from our point of view the players are very much looking forward to the game," Lennon said.
"I wasn't pleased with our first-half performance, the second half I felt we were the better team. We missed a penalty at a crucial stage of the game. They scored a penalty and that was the difference between both the sides.
"We're galvanised, we're looking forward to the game, we know if we win we can go four points clear, which psychologically would give us a huge lift. We're at home, there should be a huge crowd under the lights and there's very much a lot to play for and look forward to."
