McCann is Neily there

HEARTS winger Neil McCann is on track to return to full training three weeks earlier than scheduled in time for the club's pre-season preparations beginning on June 23.

McCann had originally been given a resumption date of July 12 after having surgery on his damaged ankle, but barring any recurrence of the injury he should join the rest of the Hearts squad in their first sessions of the new season just a month from now.

The 31-year-old has played just 24 minutes of his second spell at Tynecastle and has been left frustrated on the sidelines since January when he suffered knee ligament damage on his debut at Kilmarnock.

McCann edged near to a comeback in late March but broke down again with the ankle injury that left him on crutches and finished his season. Now free of both his leg brace and crutches, the Scotland international is on course to begin pre-season with the rest of the Hearts squad.

Assistant coach John McGlynn said today: "I saw Neil earlier in the week and he's feeling good. He's still getting treatment from the physios but he's desperate to get back.

"He's still a little bit away and it's hard trying to judge how he'll progress. He's at a good stage just now so in a month from now we're hoping he's going to be ready to begin pre-season training with us. That's the aim.

"He is happy with the knee, everything else feels fine, so we're hoping that the natural progression will see him back when the rest of the boys come back. Let's hope it's right this time."

McCann's progress is tempered by the news that Portuguese defender Jose Goncalves is somewhat further behind in his rehabilitation from a torn hamstring.

The £700,000 signing from FC Thun is currently undergoing physiotherapy in Switzerland after having his injury assessed by a German specialist at Bayer Leverkusen's Bay Arena. He has already proclaimed his intention to return to fitness in time for Hearts' entrance into the Champions League qualifiers at the end of June, however the club will wait to assess him when he arrives back in Edinburgh.

"Jose is still abroad and we're getting updates on him," added McGlynn. "It looks more likely that we'll see McCann before we do Goncalves. We gather Jose's progress is reasonable but he suffered his injury after McCann did so he was always going to be touch and go to be back in time for pre-season."

Meanwhile, Hearts are urging all season ticket holders who want to see the club challenge both domestically and in Europe next season to renew their seat at Tynecastle as soon as possible, with less than nine days remaining until the deadline for renewals.

The ticket office will stop accepting renewal from 5pm on Friday, June 2, after which any remaining seats will be made available.

The club sold out the last of their additional seats on Tuesday as demand to see Hearts in action continues to increase.

Taken from the Scotsman