Aiden McGeady's career could be over as Hibs set for talks after injured winger's season ending diagnosis
Veteran has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury - leading to questions over whether he will play again.
Lee Johnson fears Aiden McGeady’s career could be over after the crocked Hibs winger was told he won’t play again this season.
The 36-year-old former Celtic and Ireland ace damaged his hamstring against Kilmarnock a fortnight ago and has been ruled out for a minimum four months. It’s a hammer blow for the veteran who missed the opening five months of the Premiership season with a knee injury. But after returning to action in December McGeady has hit top form and helped Hibs climb to fourth in the table on the back of a six-game unbeaten league run. Devastated Johnson - who managed McGeady during an injury-hit spell at last club Sunderland - said the player would be seeing a specialist to decide whether he needs surgery. But the manager admits he also faces a huge decision on his future.
He said: “It’s a tough one. We haven’t got the exact timescale yet, but he went to see a specialist on Thursday and they’re just deciding or not whether the hamstring requires surgery. Either way, it’s definitely going to be four months, and potentially six months if that surgery is required.
“I’m due to have a conversation with Aiden on the big picture stuff and we really just want to help him now. Whatever he decides, if he wants to make a full return to playing then absolutely we’ll support that.
“If he decided different then we’ll support that and start him on a different journey. Inevitably, I think he’ll be spinning a few plates.
"He’s doing a sporting director’s course and I know he’s taking the first part of his coaching badges as well. Obviously, he’s got a lot of experience to give in football, and whether that be another year or two as a player or whether that be stepping into a new adventure.
"It’s not easy to do that. I did it early based on an injury I had, and the timing was right. But when you love playing, like I did and like Aiden does, then it’s difficult to give up.
"I would never, ever retire a football player. It’s up to them to decide when the time is right or not.”
McGeady is out of contract in the summer. But Johnson, who has Kevin Nisbet and Mykola Kukharevych available for today’s trip to Livingston after injury, said: “We’ve not had any conversations [over his contract].
“I know we’ve got a 36-year-old, and he hasn’t played an awful lot of football over the last 18 months. But we know he’s got that top-end quality at the top end of the pitch.
“We’d worked hard to get him fit and he’d worked extremely hard to get himself fit, and a flying Aiden McGeady, probably outside the games against the Old Firm, is worth a goal a game in some respects, whether that’s an assist or a secondary assist or a goal.”