Vlad wants French ace Brel to extend Hearts stay

VLADIMIR ROMANOV will meet with Julien Brellier's agent upon his return from France for discussions that could lead to an extended stay at Hearts for the Frenchman.

Brellier is now officially a Tynecastle player for the next 12 months after the club agreed to take up the option on his existing contract at a meeting last week with Giorgio de Giorgis, brother and colleague of the midfielder's agent Maurizio.

With Romanov and the Hearts squad due to return from their week-long training stint on the Cote d'Azur on Thursday, De Giorgis is hopeful that a further contract extension can be negotiated for his client, who has evolved into a supporters' icon in Edinburgh since arriving on a free transfer from Inter Milan last summer.

"We have had an initial meeting but we will have to meet again to see if the intention is there from both sides to prolong the contract beyond 2007," said Maurizio.

"My brother came to Edinburgh, now we have to wait until everyone comes back from France so that we can speak with the president, Mr Romanov. After that, we can take it further. But there is no hurry because Julien will stay. He has a contract for the coming season and we will see what they want to do about the seasons after that.

"We have been told that Julien will be playing in the coming season. He has done his medical tests and he is in France with the rest of the team at the moment."

Hearts have renewed their loan deal with FBK Kaunas for the Lithuanian defender Nerijus Barasa, who will now spend another 12 months in Edinburgh. Barasa joined Kaunas from the Russian club Krylya Sovetov Samara in January but was instantly loaned to Hearts for an initial six-month period. Slovakian internationalist Martin Petras and the Czech midfielder Ludek Straceny will not be at Tynecastle next season, however, as their loan deals have not been renewed by Romanov.

The prospective appointments of Alexei Mikhailichenko and Oleg Kuznetsov at Hearts are on hold for now after Ukraine prolonged their stay at the World Cup with a penalty shoot-out victory over Switzerland last night. Mikhailichenko and Kuznetsov are part of national coach Oleg Blokhin's backroom staff in Germany but are also understood to be in line for director of football and coaching positions respectively at Tynecastle.

Ukraine will now encounter Italy in the quarter-finals on Friday and will retain the services of all backroom members until they are eliminated.

Taken from the Scotsman