Hearts in lead

THE coach of Romanian wonderkid Dumitru Copil has admitted that Hearts are now leading the chase for the youngster dubbed "the new Gheorghe Hagi".

Hearts and Celtic are vying for the 16-year-old's signature and reports had suggested that Copil was on his way to Parkhead in January.

But Hearts now appear to be on the verge of agreeing a fee of around £70,00 with his club CS Atletico Arad.

Arad manager Alexandru Meszar said today: "All I can say is that Hearts' latest offer is much better than Celtic's.

"We are getting closer to a deal with Hearts. But there is nothing signed yet. I hope to sign a deal before the end of the year, because Copil is set to go to Scotland on January second."

One player who won't be joining Hearts is Belarussian international Vyacheslav Hleb. Tynecastle boss Valdas Ivanauskas has revealed the club will not be pursuing their interest because he is not eligible for a work permit.

The midfielder, brother of Arsenal star Alexander, was on trial with the Jambos for a few days after arriving in Scotland last Sunday.

It's the second time that the Hearts coaching staff have assessed the 23-year-old who was also over on trial in July and August.

But although the MTZ Ripo player "looked not bad", Ivanauskas believes that, for the time being at least, there is no chance of a deal being done.

"He was here and he trained with us for a couple of days but he's not here anymore," said the Tynecastle boss.

"He looked not bad and he is an international player but the system in Britain needs you to have played 75 per cent of your countries games in the last two years and he doesn't have that."

Hleb has played 13 times for Belarus netting three times.

However, there could still be several new faces arriving at the club when the January transfer window opens with Ivanauskas revealing he has targeted a number of players.

He plans to sit down with club owner Vladimir Romanov once the hectic festive fixture list is completed to discuss signing targets. "I haven't talked with him (Romanov) yet as we have two or three very hard games but after the Dunfermline game (January 2) we will talk," said Ivanauskas.

"I have two or three players in my vision but we also have a lot of players who don't play regularly and we need to keep that situation in mind."

Ivanauskas insisted that one player who definitely won't be quitting the club is Bosnian internationalist Mirsad Beslija.

Ivanauskas said "He's injured just now and has been for a long time. He tried to come back into training and got injured again so will be out for another few weeks. But in January I'd like him to stay here and there is a chance for Mirsad."

Taken from the Scotsman