Riordan has been in scoring form under Hibs boss Colin Calderwood

By Chris McLaughlin

Turkish club Eskisehirspor are hoping to lure Hibernian forward Derek Riordan away from Easter Road.

BBC Scotland understands that the Turkish Super League club will make a bid of around £250,000 during the January transfer window.

The 27-year-old is out of contract in the summer and is free to talk to other clubs at the start of the year.

Riordan has scored 33 goals for the Edinburgh club since returning there from Celtic in 2008.

The forward, who came through the Hibs youth ranks, has previously attracted interest by clubs from abroad.

During his first spell at Easter Road, he rejected January 2006 moves to Lokomotiv Moscow and Kaiserslautern, as well as Cardiff City, saying he did not wish to move overseas.

He eventually moved to Celtic that June for a reduced fee of £170,000 as he was due to be out of contract in October and had signed a pre-contract agreement with the Glasgow club.

Riordan made only 24 appearances in two seasons with Celtic and fell out with manager Gordon Strachan before returning to Hibs for an undisclosed fee in summer 2008.

Having often been used in a wide role, he was utilised as a central striker in the latter part of John Hughes tenure at Easter Road and that has been continued under his successor, Colin Calderwood.

Riordan has responded to the new manager's arrival with five goals in the last four games despite the Edinburgh side slipping to third bottom of the Scottish Premier League.

Striker Darryl Duffy, on loan from Bristol Rovers, and attacking midfielder Merouane Zemmama have returned to training to bolster Calderwood's squad, but it is unlikely that he would wish to lose his top performer.

Eskisehirspor - who play in Anatolia, which forms the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey - lie 11th in the 18-team Turkish top flight.

The club from Eskisehir, a city with a population of more than 600,000, are planning to move to a 33,500 covered ground to replace their current Eskisehir Ataturk Stadium, which has a capacity of 13,500.

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