Republic of Ireland international Daryl Horgan is heading for the exit at Hibernian with a move south back to England his most likely next step.

The Scottish Premiership club signed the 28-year-old winger from Preston North End in August 2018 on a three-year contract and he has made 81 appearances for them, scoring 10 goals and notching 16 assists.

His name was missing when today's team and squad for Hibs' league meeting with Aberdeen was revealed and his manager Jack Ross explained why in his pre-match interview with Sky Sports.

"Daryl Horgan isn’t involved today as it is likely he will move on in the next few days," said Ross. "It is something that has been on the horizon for a couple of weeks.

"Daryl is most likely going to return to England so we had to go about finding a replacement and a creative wide player."

The surprise news about Horgan also gave explanation to Hibs signing 31-year-old winger Jamie Murphy from Rangers in a deal that was completed yesterday.

"We enquired about Jamie’s availability and managed to structure a deal that would be able to bring him to the club for the next couple of years," said Ross.

Horgan had started the Scottish Premiership campaign very well, with two assists and consecutive starts in the last four matches, helping the Edinburgh club into second place in the table behind Rangers and ahead of champions Celtic.

The Galway native didn't make as big an impact as he might hoped at Deepdale, making 44 appearances over two seasons, scoring 4 goals along with 5 assists.

A move to a club in the English Championship would boost his chances of catching the eye of his old Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny, who opted not to select him for the current Republic of Ireland squad ahead of the start of the UEFA Nations League campaign.