Foulkes slaps £5m price tag on Gordon

Paul Kiddie

HEARTS today slapped a £5 million transfer fee on the head of goalkeeping star Craig Gordon.

The Scotland No.1 is under contract with the Jambos until the summer of 2007 but has been linked with a shock move to Serie A side Palermo.

The Gorgie outfit is currently locked in negotiations with Gordon over an extension to his current deal and has issued a defiant "hands off" message to any team contemplating making a move for the highly-rated shot-stopper.

Chief executive Phil Anderton has stressed that there has been no contact from the Sicilian club over the keeper, who will win his 13th cap for his country in tomorrow's World Cup qualifier in Slovenia. Chairman George Foulkes today reiterated the club's resolve to hang on their best players, insisting it would take a "substantial" offer of "many millions" of pounds to prise the 22-year-old internationalist away from Tynecastle.

"We are currently in the middle of contract negotiations with Craig Gordon over a new deal for him," he said. "There has been no approach from Palermo or anyone else for that matter but these types of stories always seem to surface when contract talks with a player are ongoing.

"Craig Gordon is worth many millions of pounds. He is the established first choice keeper for his country, has done brilliantly for Hearts and we are not in the business of selling our best players. He is a big part of our plans as we try to keep progressing and it would take a substantial offer, of the order of around £5million, to even make us consider selling."

Despite the report which surfaced today linking Palermo with a move for arguably the SPL's top keeper, Foulkes insisted Hearts were in no rush to thrash out a new deal for Gordon, who has made no secret of his desire to one day perform on the game's biggest stage, with his ultimate ambition to move to the English Premiership when the time is right.

With his current deal not due to expire for another year-and-a-half, Foulkes is quite comfortable with the way talks are progressing. He said: "He is one of our prime assets and we want to look after his best interests.

"But there is no urgency is getting a new deal sorted out. We want to keep him and Craig wants to stay."

Taken from the Scotsman