Hearts in talks with former winger McCann

HEARTS last night confirmed that they are in negotiations to bring back winger Neil McCann to the club.

McCann, 31, was released last week by Southampton, managed by former Hearts manager George Burley, and Dunfermline failed earlier this week in a move to sign him.

The Scotland international left Tynecastle for Rangers in a £2 million move in December 1998 after picking up a Scottish Cup winner's medal with Hearts earlier that year.

Hearts head coach Graham Rix said last night: "We're talking with Neil about the possibility of him joining Hearts, but I must stress that no deal has been done yet.

"Neil is an excellent player and would be a superb acquisition for our squad."

Meanwhile, one deal which did go through at Tynecastle yesterday was the signing of Nerijus Barasa, a Lithuanian international defender, who has joined on loan from FBK Kaunas until the end of the season. He goes straight into the Hearts squad for this afternoon's match at Dunfermline, as does the club's signing from Yeovil Town, Lee Johnson.

Talks are still ongoing, however, with a handful of other players, including Neil Mellor and Darren Potter from Liverpool, the Portuguese player Bruno Aguiar, and the Bosnian winger Mirsad Beslija. The fact that the latter is now included among the first-team squad on the Hearts website suggests that completion of his deal is close, but yesterday Rix insisted he would presume nothing until the contract was signed. "It is very close, and I'm very confident the deal will go through, but there are still one or two things to be sorted out," he said. "As soon as possible, we'll get him in."

Negotiations with the Bulgarian Branimar Kostadinov are also close to a successful completion, according to Rix, but talks with another teenager, Michal Golinski from Poland, have been broken off. "We've chosen not to pursue it," he explained. "He's a good player, but not quite what we're looking for."

While Johnson cost only a nominal fee and Barasa is just a loan signing, Rix insisted that the club's owner, Vladimir Romanov, had shown he was ready to pay out substantial sums for the right players. It could cost more than the club's current transfer record - the £750,000 paid to Rangers for Derek Ferguson back in 1990 - to recruit Beslija from Racing Genk. "Vladimir has been fantastic, really supportive," Rix said.

The focus is on new recruits, but Hearts have also begun talks about a new deal with Jamie McAllister, whose contract expires in the summer. They will also shortly start discussions about a new deal for Scotland defender Andy Webster, who has more time to run on his present contract but has continued to attract the attention of other clubs.

Taken from the Scotsman