Hearts boss eyeing 'precious' talent Martin

BARRY ANDERSON
CSABA LASZLO today spoke for the first time about Hearts' interest in the Turkish international striker Ersen Martin, a player he hopes to lure to Tynecastle this summer.
Having previously been reluctant to speak publicly about Martin, a 29-year-old German with Turkish citizenship, Laszlo declared himself a keen admirer of the forward's talents. He said Hearts narrowly failed in an attempt to sign him from Spanish club Recreativo de Huelva during the January transfer window.

Martin remains top of Laszlo's list of signing targets along with the Slovakian defender Pavol Farkas, as revealed by the Evening News last week. Farkas has gone on trial with Romanian club SC Vaslui, but Martin is free to sign a pre-contract agreement now as his current Recreativo deal expires on June 30.

Laszlo believes Martin's 6ft 5in frame would be ideally suited to Scottish football as he seeks a target man to lead the Hearts forward line next season.

"I was very interested in his services for January. We gave Ersen the possibility but, at the last minute, everything was too late. He is definitely a very interesting player," enthused the manager.

"He is 1m 97cm (6ft 5…in], a very tall guy, who has scored about 80 goals but I think around 50 of them were with his head. He is a very good header of the ball.

"In Scottish football he can be a very precious striker and it was my intention to bring him here. Maybe we will have luck and get him in the summer when his contract finishes. We will have some possibilities in May."

Laszlo stressed that any terms offered to Martin will be in line with salaries currently being paid at Hearts. "Any player who would like to come here must accept our wages. We don't like to make a competition with Spain or Italy," he added.

Laszlo is counting the cost of Marius Zaliukas' red card against Falkirk on Saturday. He was ordered off by referee Dougie McDonald during the Scottish Cup defeat for punching Carl Finnigan, his third red card of the season. In addition to this weekend's SPL meeting with Aberdeen, Zaliukas will also be sidelined against St Mirren, Dundee United and Motherwell. He will be available again for the Edinburgh derby encounter with Hibs at Easter Road on March 14

Taken from the Scotsman