Sunderland loanee Nectarios Triantis has received high praise after a difficult start to his spell with Hibernian.
Nectarios Triantis joined Sunderland from Australian outfit Central Coast Mariners in the summer, however he managed only 91 minutes of action before leaving on loan.
The defender started his first three league games at Hibs under his former manager Nick Montgomery, but gave away two penalties against St Mirren and Celtic, before he was eventually dropped.
Triantis then returned to the starting line-up for their Scottish FA Cup quarter-final tie with Rangers at the weekend, but was instead pushed forward into a midfield role.
The Australian looked much more effective away from his natural position and enjoyed his best appearance since joining Hibs, despite losing 2-0 to the current Scottish Premiership leaders.
On Triantis, Montgomery told footballscotland: “Look, he’s really versatile. He can play centre-back, he can play six and if you are a deep-lying six, a defensive midfielder, it’s a similar position.
“He’s technically very good on the ball. He’s still young and he’s had success in his relatively short career. But he went six months, really, without playing after he moved to Sunderland, which is a big move for a young player.
“You could see against Rangers, especially in the second half, that he is a player who can really dictate play, and physically he is very good. I’ve been really happy with Nectar since he came in – and I know he can be better. But every game and every training session is an opportunity for him to improve.”
Asked if he had any concerns after his poor start, the boss added: “Not really. I have full trust in Nectar. The first game he came in, Paul Hanlon fell sick that morning, so I had no option but to throw him in – we only had Will Fish as a centre-back.
“He came in and a couple of decisions probably went against him, but I know Nectar’s character and that doesn’t bother him. You can see now that coming into the team, in a game of that magnitude (against Rangers), I thought his performance was really strong. He’s getting better every training session and every game and it’s good you have players that are versatile – it definitely makes the squad stronger.”
Can Nectarios Triantis get in the Sunderland squad?
Nectarios Triantis isn’t turning 21 years old until May, but it does feel like he is quite far away from being able to make a positive impact on this Sunderland squad.
Jenson Seelt came in at the same time as him and came into the starting line-up comfortably, but I certainly wouldn’t trust the Australian youngster to do the same thing.
Perhaps he could find his way into the team if he proves himself as a better midfielder whilst at Hibs, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Triantis is another disastrous recent signing – joining a number of our summer arrivals as disappointments.