Edinburgh rivals trail McDonald

The 22-year-old striker, who was disappointed at missing out on the World Cup finals with his homeland, has handed in a transfer request to Motherwell. However, McDonald, who previously played for Southampton, is keen to remain in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague and that has alerted both Edinburgh clubs.

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McDonald’s agent, Lou Sticca, has placed several other players at Tynecastle in the recent past while Hibernian are keen to find a ready-made replacement after the decision of Derek Riordan to sign a pre-contract agreement with Celtic. Sticca informed the Fir Park board of McDonald’s request for a move after his omission from Guus Hiddink’s Australia World Cup squad.

McDonald has spent 30 months at Motherwell and scored 27 goals in 66 starts. The appeal of either Hearts or Hibernian is that both could offer European football next season, with the former in Champions League and the latter taking part in the Intertoto Cup that leads to a place in the Uefa Cup.

“My decision for leaving is that I feel my career will be furthered by moving to a new club,” McDonald said. “Missing the World Cup squad brought home to me that I need to keep challenging myself to get the most out of my ability.”

McDonald has two years remaining on his contract at Motherwell, whose new manager, Maurice Malpas, has no intention of allowing the striker to leave. “Scott wants to play at a higher level,” Sticca said. “That might be in England but he would also be quite content to move up the ladder a little in Scotland.”

McDonald insists his decision has nothing to do with the departure of Terry Butcher from Fir Park to take over as manager of Sydney FC and he will not be joining the former Motherwell manager in his homeland. “Motherwell, their directors, coaches and fans are first class, but I have noticed I’ve lost my zip in the last couple of months,” the player said. “It has nothing to do with money. I am not trying to leverage a new deal. I know Motherwell have a strict wage cap, and after what they have been through I totally understand the situation.”

Sticca underlined that. “I was in Scotland six weeks ago and Scott’s mind was made up then,” the agent said. “Motherwell got Scott on a free transfer and, hopefully, they will be able to sell him on, so it is a win-win situation.”

Hearts have no shortage of forwards but their interest in McDonald may be intensified by the knowledge that they appear to have lost the chance to sign Albert Meyong, the Cameroon forward, who is about to complete a £1.7 million move to Auxerre.

Meyong intimated his desire to leave his Portuguese club, Belenenses, at the end of last season after their relegation, which prompted Hearts and a host of other clubs to declare their interest.

Vladimir Romanov, the Hearts owner, is reported to be unwilling to spend any more than £1 million on Meyong. The player’s agent, Paulo Teixeira, admitted he had been awaiting contact from Edinburgh to move the deal forward. “Hearts seemed to start this process and haven’t finished it,” Teixeira told the Edinburgh Evening News. “We were contacted by the club and told they wanted to strike a deal, but nothing has happened. It is not a problem for us because Hearts were only the latest club to become interested in Albert.”

Hearts are also awaiting news from Michal Pospisil after the Czech Republic under-21 striker flew to Norway at the weekend to discuss a possible move to Stabaek. The player has promised Einar Schultz, the Stabaek chairman, a decision some time next week as he is getting married on Saturday, although Hearts would be entitled to a fee as he has two years left on his contract.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk