Hibs land Genoa forward Steven Pinau on loan
Last updated : 12 August 2008 By Steve Forbes
Hibs boss Mixu Paatelainen has revealed that he has landed Genoa forward Steven Pinau on loan.
The 20-year-old French U19 forward has signed for the Hibees until the end of the season from the Serie A club, following the recommendation of Hibs legend and former French international Franck Sauzee.
He played in the pre-season games against English Premiership sides Middlesbrough and Wigan, doing enough for Hibs boss Paatelainen to offer him a loan stint at Easter Road.
Pinau just signed a 5-year-deal with Genoa after he joined from French cracks Monaco at the end of the season.
The striker played twice for Monaco and was highly rated at the French club, but was lured to Italy over the summer.
Genoa are keen for him to get some first team experience and have allowed him to ply his trade in the SPL with the Hibees.
Pinau becomes Mixu Paatelainen's fifth signing of the summer following the arrivals of David Van Zanten, Fabian Yantorno, Steven Thicot and Joe Keenan.
Hibs boss Mixu Paatelainen was delighted to get his man, he said:
"Steven has joined us for a year and I am delighted to have finalised the deal. He is a good player already, even though he is still just a young boy.
"It is always a good sign when a big club like Genoa signs you on a five-year contract from someone like Monaco. He broke into the Monaco first team towards the end of last season and in fact I went over there to watch him for myself but they were keen to keep him.
"Then he signed for Genoa and I heard that they would consider sending him out on loan for a year. Fortunately we managed to get him and I think that he will be a great addition to our squad.
"He may be a young player but he has already proved that he can score a lot of goals - he already has in a relatively short career.
"He is good at holding the ball up and I think that against Wigan we saw in spells that he can also make excellent runs. We are delighted to have such a highly-rated player at Hibernian."
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