Jurgen Degabriele is determined to repay the faith shown by his boyhood club Hibernians after the young striker yesterday put pen to paper on a three-year contract.
Despite being only 23 years of age, Degabriele has already established himself as a key figure in the Paolites set up, making 131 league appearances but more importantly he managed to find the back of the net 43 times.
Unfortunately the past 12 months have been anything but easy for the promising young striker after suffering two serious knee injuries.
Now that he successfully manage to regain full fitness, speculation was rife on his club future particularly as his contract expired at the end of last month.
However, despite drawing the attention from three other clubs Degabriele said that his priority was always that to stay with Hibernians.
“I am so pleased that I have been offered a new contract by Hibernians,” Degabriele said.
“When your contract is drawing to a close it is inevitable that you start thinking of what the future will hold. But once Hibernians approached me with a new contract I had a straightforward decision to make as for me this club is like my family.
“I have been here since I was a little boy and I have grew up with several of my team-mates so it feels great to be able to be able to stay with them for a few more years.”
After missing the most of the 2019-20 season, Degabriele is now determined to make up for the time he lost by helping his club reach their targets next season.
“I can tell you that I’m raring to go,” Degabriele said.
“Pre-season will restart on July 1 and I can’t wait to restart the season with my club and ensure I’m physically ready to help the club in all the competitions we will be playing in.
“Our goal as always will be to try and qualify for European football. But if by the season end we will be in a position to challenge for the title you can rest assured that we will give it our best shot to try and be crowned champions.”
Degabriele is also hopeful that the upcoming 2020-21 season will help him to finally break into the national team’s set-up under new head coach Devis Mangia.
“I have been dreaming of playing for the national team since I was a boy and certainly it’s my main objective to become a regular member,” Degabriele said.
“But to achieve that I need to play well for my club. But I’m not looking too far ahead for now. I’m just focusing of playing at my best level and if I do that I have a good chance to represent my country.”