Vlad in Moscow for precision targeting

VLADIMIR Romanov was due in Moscow this weekend for the start of the Commonwealth Cup - the annual showdown of the champions of all 15 former Soviet republics, and a regular date in the Hearts owner's calendar. But aside from taking in Kaunas' victory yesterday against Georgian outfit Sioni, he should be well placed to finalise a spot of transfer business.

On Friday, Valdas Ivanauskas was being coy on the identity of the two new signings the club hopes to tie up tomorrow, but it is likely the pair in question are Georgia's versatile Gogita Gogua and the much travelled 26-year- old Ghanaian international midfielder Laryea Kingston. Both players have excelled of late in the Russian top flight.

Gogua, who was voted the Russian Premier League's best newcomer of 2006, is widely regarded as Georgia's brightest, if most combustible, talent.

Kingston, 26, who spent last year on loan from Terek Grozny at Lokomotiv Moscow, is a regular in the excellent Ghana midfield alongside Michael Essien and Fenerbahce's Stephen Appiah.

The precision targeting of such talents suggests a considerable step up from the scattergun approach of drafting in Kaunas players. It would seem that Vladimir Romanov is now mining a richer vein. Both these players would add bite to a midfield that has often looked soft-centred of late. They also offer the considerable boon of versatility. Kingston, 25, started life as a right-back - currently one of Hearts' biggest problem positions - though has since generally been deployed in a central attacking midfield role. The 23-year-old Gogua, who arrived on trial last weekend, is by vocation a holding midfielder - making him a potential replacement for Julien Brellier should he leave in the summer - but has been utilised by the national team at left-back, can also play left midfield and has even been known to play at right-back. If both sign on, Hearts might be entitled to feel they are getting six players for the price of two.

Last season, Gogua played in the colours of Spartak Nalchik, the minnows from Dagestan, who for a period surprised everyone by topping the table. The Georgian played a major part, earning his accolade of Best Russian Premier League Newcomer from respected daily Sport Express, and making him a target for Lokomotiv Moscow and the Turkish giants Galatasaray.

"If you're not ready to play physically, and to run about a lot, and maintain a high tempo throughout the game, and win plenty of one-on-ones, then you shouldn't be playing in Russia," said Gogua, who looks to have the attributes required to succeed in the SPL.

Romanov's antipathy for the agent fraternity is now legendary, and he is unlikely to be held to ransom over inflated demands. But at least when it comes to haggling with the representatives of Gogua and Kingston, he might feel that he is doing business with men of his own ilk. In Gogua's case, the contractual situation is both curious and simple. His registration is held not by a club, but oil oligarch and controversial former Spartak Moscow president Andrei Chervichenko. When Chervichenko left Spartak in 2004, he acquired a smaller club, FC Khimki, leading them into the Premier League, before abandoning the project and turning his back on football. However, like a feudal baron, he retained the rights to most of Khimki's players, including Gogua. It means the negotiations for the player's services will be oligarch to oligarch.

Chervichenko, who brought Gogua to Khimki in 2005, regards him as one of his best signings. "The Georgians were telling me to watch other players, but he stuck out straight away. I was told he was already on his way to an Austrian club, so I just said, 'I'll pay more'."

Former Rangers striker Shota Arveladze, who has played alongside Gogua in the national team for two years, is confident that he will prosper in Scottish football. "I've no doubt that he will fit in well. He can play in a number of positions, he's fast and aggressive - sometimes too aggressive [he has 11 yellow cards and one red in 17 international appearances] and he maybe has to calm down a little."

Fellow Hearts target Kingston is no shrinking violet either. He would have featured in the Ghana team that so impressed in Germany last summer, had it not been for a four-match ban incurred in a 2006 African Nations tie with Senegal which forced him to miss the tournament. That episode is indicative of his reputation as a tough competitor, prone to overstepping the mark. However, there is far more to his game than sheer brawn; a player with fine touch, excellent distribution skills, and a powerful engine, who might well be a worthy replacement for Paul Hartley.

In Kingston's case, Romanov will ultimately be negotiating with German Tkachenko, the aluminium magnate and former president of premier league club Krylya Sovetov, who last year founded Moscow-based player agency, Prosports Management. Tkachenko, though still in his mid-thirties, has been a key player in Russian business and football worlds for several years. Prosports already represents many of Russia's top players. Also on their books is another Hearts target, Serbian international Ognjen Koroman, though early indications suggest the Serb is likely to be beyond Hearts' budget.

Another player who seems unlikely to be joining Hearts is the Togo captain and former Livingston player, Cherif Toure Mamam. The midfielder spent last week on trial at Tynecastle but has been without a club since leaving Metz in the summer and a lack of match fitness will have counted against him given Hearts' desire to get the benefit of any new signings sooner rather than later.

Taken from the Scotsman