John Hughes feels Sol Bamba will be fit to feature for Hibs in Saturday's Edinburgh derby clash against Hearts.
The Ivory Coast international missed the Scottish Cup quarter-final with Ross County with a shoulder injury, but has made good progress ahead of this weekend's trip to Tynecastle.
John Hughes told the club's website: "Sol is on the way back again - we were playing a bounce match this week and he was banging on my door looking to make sure he got to play in that.
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I've said many times that he is a very big player for us - but what I need is 11 players hitting form from now until the end of the season."