Hearts finally ready to make first signings of the summer

HEARTS, the only SPL team yet to make a close-season signing, are in talks to add two new players to their squad. The Greek defender Christos Karapidis and the Chilean forward Mauricio Pinilla spent yesterday morning at the Tynecastle club's Riccarton training base and are understood to be close to agreeing deals.

Pinilla, the Sporting Lisbon striker, claims he has already agreed to sign for Hearts, and a one-year loan deal is expected to be completed this week. The 22-year-old Chilean international had similar loan spells at Celta Vigo and Chievo while with Internazionale before Sporting Lisbon paid £750,000 to sign him on a four-year deal, two years ago.

Pinilla, who was Chile's top scorer in their failed attempt to qualify for this summer's World Cup finals, has a strong desire to play in the English Premiership and was quoted in the Portuguese press as saying: "I am looking forward to playing football in Scotland and delighted the deal has been done. My ambition is to play in the English Premiership and I am hoping this will provide me with an opportunity to do that by playing well in Scotland."

A new defender is also a priority for Hearts head coach Valdas Ivanauskas, whose plans for the new season have been disrupted by the news that Jose Goncalves will miss the first three months of the campaign due to a serious hip injury.

The loss of the Portuguese defender will be keenly felt in light of Andy Webster's decision to leave Tynecastle, but could be offset by the likely capture of left-sided centre-half Karapidis, who is expected to sign from PAOK Salonika. Karapidis has the same agent as his compatriot, Hearts' left-back Takis Fyssas.

Club captain Steven Pressley, youngster Christophe Berra, and the similarly inexperienced Ibrahim Tall, remain the only recognised centre-backs in the Hearts squad after the latest injury to Goncalves, with only eight days to go before the club take their place in the Champions League qualifying stages for the first time.

Goncalves, who arrived at Tynecastle in January, impressed as both an athletic central defender and left back towards the end of last season, but has endured an injury-plagued spell in Scottish football thus far.

The Portuguese Under-21 international signed for Lithuanian side FBK Kaunas from Swiss club FC Thun for £700,000 on a three-and-a-half-year deal, but was immediately loaned to Hearts.

The 20-year-old, who featured eight times in Thun's Champions League run last season, suffered a torn hamstring in the early stages of a Scottish Premierleague match with Kilmarnock in April, which caused him to miss the final league matches and Tennent's Scottish Cup final. That injury subsequently fully healed after treatment in Sweden and Germany during the close season, and the player also underwent an operation on cosmetic damage to his foot before returning to Edinburgh.

The young defender had earlier suffered concussion after an accidental collision with the Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon during the 4-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win over Hibs. Goncalves has therefore managed a mere five starts for Hearts, during which time they have only conceded a single goal.

Goncalves is now suffering from a hip injury which has left him unable to train with the Hearts first-team squad at all, and while it has not yet been fully decided whether surgery is required, he is not due back in Ivanauskas's first-team plans until the end of October.

Hearts expect Gordon to be fit in time for next week's qualifier against Shakhtyor Soligorsk or Siroki Brijeg, but understudy Steve Banks is expected to continue in goal for tomorrow night's friendly match against Osasuna at Murrayfield.

Five Lithuanian players have also arrived at Riccarton for a trial period at the behest of club owner Vladimir Romanov and trained with the first-team squad yesterday.

Taken from the Scotsman