Double swoop: twin midfield targets sign up at Tynecastle

HEARTS head coach Valdas Ivanauskas is already envisaging permanent futures at Tynecastle for new signings Laryea Kingston and Gogita Gogua.

The Ghanaian and Georgian internationalists have initially agreed six-month loan moves to Edinburgh from their respective Russian clubs, Terek Grozny and Spartak Nalchik, pending work permit authorisation from the Home Office. However, Ivanauskas does not view either player as a short-term option and wants both secured by the summer.

Kingston has already signed a three-and-a-half year contract with Hearts worth £15,000 a week, which will kick in assuming majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov exercises his option to buy the player permanently from Terek at the end of the season.

Hearts have secured a similar first-option clause in the deal for Gogua.

"Gogua and Kingston have signed until the summer on loan and then afterwards we are looking to agree long-term deals for them both," said Ivanauskas, who will resist the temptation to throw his new recruits into Saturday's critical SPL meeting with Rangers, even if their work permits are received in time.

"They will be available for the weekend but I think there is only a very small chance that they will play. I think their chance will come after." Kingston, currently on loan at Lokomotiv Moscow from Terek Grozny, is a defensive midfield player who can also fill in a right-back. The 26-year-old is a regular in the Ghanaian national team and is regarded as one of the most tenacious players in the Russian league.

Gogua has 16 caps for his country despite being only 23 and has earned himself a reputation as the Georgian equivalent of Italy midfielder Rino Gattuso. He operates in the holding midfield role or in either full-back position.

Hearts' hopes of signing a third midfielder in the shape of Ognjen Koroman have dissipated, however. The Serbian internationalist has declared his preference for a move from Portsmouth to Crvena Zvezda, the club formally known as Red Star Belgrade.

He said: "I want to play for Red Star. I'm not interested in moving to Scotland."

Meanwhile, Hearts striker Andrius Velicka will be the subject of disciplinary action from the SFA if Falkirk defender Darren Barr is cleared of head-butting the Lithuanian. The SFA's disciplinary committee are to deliver a verdict on whether to rescind Barr's red card before the weekend, and if they side with the defender they will then investigate allegations that Velicka dived during the pair's altercation in Saturday's match at Tynecastle.

Hearts pair Jamie MacDonald and Lee Wallace will join team-mate Calum Elliot in a new-look Scotland Under-21 squad for next month's friendly with Germany.

Taken from the Scotsman