Mission to Moscow will see Valdas get his men

HEARTS are less than 48 hours from completing the signings of Gogita Gogua and Laryea Kingston after a frantic weekend of transfer negotiations in Moscow involving Valdas Ivanauskas and Vladimir Romanov.

Ivanauskas, the club's head coach, was summoned to Russia by majority shareholder Romanov on Saturday evening, departing Tynecastle after the final whistle in Hearts' 1-0 win over Falkirk.

He reported his assessments of Gogua and Kingston to Romanov, having watched the Georgian and the Ghanaian during their trial period at Riccarton last week.

Romanov moved yesterday towards securing both players on a permanent basis and is now negotiating the finer details of contracts with their representatives.

Ivanauskas expects Gogua and Kingston, both internationalists for their respective nations, to move to Hearts in a matter of days, although one or both could come via a loan deal with FBK Kaunas, the Lithuanian club which is financed by Romanov.

From Moscow, the head coach told the Evening News: "There is progress with Gogua. When the contract is signed or we have more details I can explain more, but we have made progress.

"This should be finished in the next few days, I am confident of that.

"We have also moved forward with Kingston and the prospects of signing him look much better. You don't know what each day will bring but there is also progress there."

Gogua will arrive from the Russian side Spartak Nalchik whilst Kingston is available from Lokomotiv Moscow, another of Ivanauskas' former employers. The Lithuanian said: "Lokomotiv was my last club in Russia and I have very good contacts there, I have a lot of information about the football in Russia."

Ivanauskas watched several other potential targets in Moscow yesterday as he took in Kaunas' match with the Serbian side OFK Beograd in the Commonwealth Cup. Mindaugas Baguzis, a Lithuanian defender, is expected to be loaned to Hearts from Kaunas following the Russian tournament, which concludes on January 28.

Other Kaunas players like the Belarussian midfielders Vyacheslav Hleb and Oleg Strahanovich, as well as Senegalese defender Pascal Mendy, have been identified for summer moves to Scotland provided they can satisfy UK work permit regulations.

Kaunas lost 3-2 to OFK having defeated the Georgian side Sioni on Saturday. They face HTTU from Turkmenistan tomorrow when a draw could allow them to progress to the Commonwealth Cup's quarter-final stage.

Ivanauskas returned to Scotland today but admitted to a stalling in negotiations with the Serbian internationalist Ognjen Koroman. He said: "There is a big question over him. It's not money but I don't want to say exactly what the situation is."

Despite speculation continuing over the future of Paul Hartley, with Aston Villa reported to be interested along with Rangers, Ivanauskas said he has yet to receive a phone call from any interested party.

Taken from the Scotsman