Neil Lennon claims Hibernian are the second best team in Scotland, behind Celtic.
The Hibs boss, who has led the club back to the top flight of Scottish football following three seasons in tier two, says his side are better than Aberdeen.
The Dons, who beat the Edinburgh club in a thrilling Scottish Cup semi-final on Saturday, are currently second in the Scottish Premiership having already lost the League Cup final to Celtic in November.
But Lennon, a former Hoops' boss, told The Daily Record: "We can play and I think we're the second best team in the country. We should have won the game (at Hampden).
"If we add a couple of players we'll be a real force to be reckoned with next season.
"We can mix it, we can play, we showed plenty of character to come back from 2-0 down.
"We were definitely in the ascendancy, we scored the best goals but we conceded and they let the game get away from them."
And with Hibs having already booked their spot in the Scottish Premiership for 2017/18, on-loan goalkeeper Ofir Marciano is keen to remain at Easter Road.
His loan deal in Edinburgh expires in a few weeks but the Israeli told the newspaper: "I don't know what's going to happen but I can just say I'm really happy here and I appreciate what the people around the club do for me and the support I get and the love I get.
"This club was good to me this year. The gaffer was good to me this year and everyone involved in the club was good to me and I appreciate that.
"When you get so much love it's a place you want to stay obviously.
If we add a couple of players we'll be a real force to be reckoned with next season.
Neil Lennon
"Still I don't know because I'm on loan here. I have one more season at Ashdod so I don't know what is going to happen.
"There will have to be discussions between my agent and my club in Israel. I'm happy with the situation here and when you train with the gaffer he pushes you all the time to be a better player.
"I like it. So I want to stay at this level and become a better goalie every year."
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