New Hibernian striker Franck Dja Djedje has revealed he once came within a whisker of joining Jose Mourinho's Chelsea.

The 28-year-old is poised to make his debut for Hibs this afternoon at home to Falkirk after penning an 18-month deal with the Championship club earlier this week.

The former Ivory Coast under-23 internationalist took the advice of long-term friend Sol Bamba, who spent two and a half years at Easter Road, before agreeing his switch to the capital. However, the one-time team-mate of the likes of Spurs pair Hugo Lloris and Younes Kaboul, and PSG midfielder Yohan Cabaye in the French youth teams could have taken a more straight-forward path to British football than the one he has now taken.

The former PSG, Grenoble and Nice striker, who has more recently played for Ukrainian side Chornomorets Odesa and Dinamo Minsk in Belarus, explained: "When I was young, everyone In my French youth team said I should play in the UK, because my style would suit the game here, because I love challenges and contact.

"So, I think my quality will definitely suit Scottish football. "I was that close to signing for Chelsea when I was 19, when Jose Mourinho was manager," added Dja Djedje pinching his thumb and forefinger together. "But PSG asked for a lot of money. So I didn't go. Then I was injured, and when I came back I had a trial with Charlton, who were in the second division at the time. Again, PSG asked for too much money, so it didn't happen."

Having previously spent all his career in French football, Dja Djedje moved to Odesa in 2012 but his career was thrown into turmoil by the civil unrest that broke out in Ukraine last year. The 28-year-old has admitted he did not feel safe remaining in the former Soviet country and joined Sarpsborg 08 in Norway on a short-term deal before his spell with Minsk in the second half of last year. However, the Ivory-Coast-born marksman, who moved to Paris aged 12, insists he is now keen to settle down in Scotland, where he has big ambitions with Hibs.

Speaking with Farid El Alagui interpreting, Dja Djedje added: "I left Ukraine because the problems had started to get a bit dangerous for me and my family, so I decided to leave. I preferred my family to return to France. I sent my family back first. Then the club gave me three options: to stay and see how it goes, to leave just temporarily until the situation settled down and became a little better then come back, or to cancel my contract.

"We negotiated and agreed to cancel my contract. "My objective now is obviously to succeed in Scotland and make a name for myself here. It's not just a short-term move for me, I want to stay as long as I can with Hibs. "My first ambition is to play in the top league with Hibs. Then it is to play in Europe with Hibs."

Dja Djedje, who follows on from the arrival of Martin Boyle on loan from Dundee, is unlikely to be the last of Alan Stubbs' recruits in January, with the Hibs head coach running the rule over Finnish striker Roope Riski and Norwegian defender Edvard Skagestad on trial this week. Stubbs added: "We've had a couple of lads in and we've still got one (Skagestad) in for a couple more days. We'll decide what we're going to do with them over the next few days."

Alan Stubbs has warned Jason Cummings about his future behaviour after the striker avoided suspension and was freed to play in this afternoon's meeting with Falkirk.

The striker was this week offered a one-match ban by SFA compliance officer Tony McGlennan after making an alleged 'offensive gesture' to Hearts fans as he celebrated scoring the opening goal in last Saturday's Edinburgh derby.

Hibs refused to accept the censure, however, and Cummings' charge of breaching disciplinary rule 200 was found not proven by a three-man judicial panel at Hampden on Thursday.