Stokes, 21, moves to Easter Road for an undisclosed fee and has penned a three-year deal at Easter Road.

Former Sunderland boss Roy Keane splashed out £2m to sign Stokes from Arsenal in January 2007 after he had impressed on a loan spell in Scotland with Falkirk, where he scored 16 goals in 18 games.

However, after he failed to make any impact in the Premier League, the Wearsiders have had to take a loss on Stokes to move him on.

Hibs are thought to have paid around £500,000.

Hibs boss John ‘Yogi’ Hughes – who was in charge at Falkirk when Stokes was there – has brought the young frontman in to replace Steven Fletcher, who joined Premier League new boys Burnley in a £3m deal in June.

Stokes made 38 appearances for Sunderland in all competitions, just 16 of them starts, and scored five goals.

Club Career

Arsenal
Stokes broke into the Arsenal reserves at only 15 years old after joining from Shelbourne. Stokes made his first-team debut as a substitute in Arsenal’s League Cup tie against Sunderland on October 25, 2005, coming on for Arturo Lupoli in the 88th minute which Arsenal won 3–0. In the summer of 2006, he trained with Sunderland with a view to a loan move, but the then Sunderland manager Niall Quinn decided against it due to Sunderland’s large squad depth and lack of reserve team.

Falkirk
Eventually, Arsenal agreed a loan deal with Falkirk that saw Stokes play for the Scottish side until the end of 2006. Stokes scored his first goal for Falkirk in a 1–0 victory at Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 19 September 2006, in the CIS Cup third round. He followed that up on October 21 with two more goals against Inverness.

On 28 October 2006, he scored his first competitive hat-trick during Falkirk’s 5–1 victory over Dundee United, and then scored another hat-trick in the following match against Dunfermline Athletic, to take his tally to an impressive nine goals in just four games, equalling a record previously held by Paul Derjone.

This hat-trick wrote himself into Falkirk’s history book, with Falkirk enjoying success over their Fife rivals. Having become the first player to score back to back hat-tricks in the SPL, Stokes then hit a third in his final game for Falkirk, a 3–1 home victory over Inverness on 30 December.

On 7 November, Stokes scored an equaliser for Falkirk in the 100th minute of the CIS Insurance Cup against Celtic, Falkirk going through 5–4 on penalties. His continuing good form saw him named Young Player of the Month for October and November. By the end of December 2006 he had scored 16 goals in 18 league and cup appearances and reports linked him with a move to Celtic. However, when his loan at Falkirk expired on 31 December 2006, he returned to Arsenal.

Sunderland
On January 8, 2007, Stokes ended weeks of speculation as to his future by signing for Sunderland for a fee of £2 million. With Celtic and Charlton Athletic having also been in the hunt for his signature, Stokes revealed that he was greatly influenced by Sunderland manager and former Irish football international, Roy Keane, in making his ultimate decision. Stokes was originally handed the 26 shirt at Sunderland, but after the departure of Jon Stead to Sheffield United he was given the number 9 shirt.

On January 13, 2007, Stokes made his Sunderland debut, and crossed to set up David Connolly to give Sunderland a one goal win over Ipswich. Stokes scored his first goal for Sunderland on February 10, 2007 against Plymouth Argyle, scoring from 20 yards after coming on as a substitute.

Stokes was banned from The Glass Spider in Sunderland, a late closing bar/club after Roy Keane blamed the club for being a distraction that was affecting his training. The barring was revoked after a season and Stokes received a complimentary bottle of champagne. Stokes then scored his first Premier League goal; a last-minute winner against Derby County on December 1, 2007; a goal that took Sunderland out of the relegation zone which they had slipped into for the first time that season.

Sheffield United
Before the start of the 2008-09 season Stokes lost the Sunderland number 9 shirt and was handed the squad number of 44 instead. On October 17th 2008, Stokes agreed a 3 month loan deal to Sheffield United, with the possibility of extending it for the season. Speaking on the switch, Sunderland boss Roy Keane had this to say: “The deal with him going to Sheffield United was due to be tied up this afternoon, and it’s one of those deals that we hope will benefit everyone involved – Sunderland, Sheffield United and Stokesy / But no one more than Stokesy, because what he really needs, at this stage, is a run of first-team games”. Stokes again took the shirt that was previously vacated by Jon Stead, this time number 8.

Stokes made his debut for the Blades in the local derby against Sheffield Wednesday a few days later, coming on as a second half substitute. Stokes started his time at Bramall Lane as a first team regular but was soon dropped to the bench and returned to Sunderland having made twelve appearances but failed to score a goal.

Crystal Palace
In March 2009 he joined Crystal Palace on loan, scoring a superb solo effort after his first start against Preston North End. This proved to be his only goal for Palace, however, and he returned to Sunderland at the end of the loan spell.

Hibernian
Stokes joined Hibernian for an undisclosed fee in August 2009. This meant that he linked up again with John Hughes, who had been his manager during his loan spell at Falkirk.

[From the Anthony Stokes Wikipedia Page]