Move Costa me chance at Benfica
COLLEEN PATERSON

TIAGO COSTA revealed he turned down the chance to play in Benfica's first team this season to sign for Hearts instead.

The right-back finally put pen to paper after spending three weeks on trial with Hearts, agreeing a two-year deal just hours before the Champion League deadline.

The Portuguese player had never featured in the Benfica first-team but claimed he'd been promised a place in the starting line-up this season by the club's president Luis Filipe Vieira.

However the player couldn't reach an agreement over a new contract to keep him at the Estadio da Luz and, having seen Bruno Aguiar and Takis Fyssas make the same switch last season, opted instead to join Vladimir Romanov's revolution in Edinburgh.

He believes he can earn regular first-team football at Tynecastle and is determined to work hard to prove his worth to boss Valdas Ivanauskas but admitted that it was difficult to leave Benfica behind after signing for the Portuguese giants as a schoolboy.

However, he insisted that he only wants to look forward to his future with Hearts. He said: "I signed for Benfica when I was just ten years old and they were also a great club. It was with Benfica that I learned most of my footballing skills and I owe them a lot but this year we could not come to an agreement over a new contract.

"This year I was supposed to play in Benfica's first team, the club president told me that, but I preferred to come to Hearts.

"I played only in the second team with Benfica but I believe that I can play in the Hearts first team, of course, otherwise I would not have come here.

"I need to work hard and play my best, then hopefully wait for an opportunity.

"Scottish football is certainly different from Portuguese but I have had the chance to play in several games since I arrived at the club and I think that I will fit in to the team and to Scottish football.

"In the three weeks that I have been training with Hearts I could see that this was a great club, with great players and great supporters. I am very optimistic about my move to the club and to Edinburgh."

Tiago's countryman Bruno Aguiar helped seal the switch to Tynecastle and the new signing revealed that the club enjoys an enhanced reputation in Portugal, thanks to Vladimir Romanov's dealings in the transfer market.

"I know Bruno and he gave me very good information about Hearts, I also know that a lot of good players came here last year, like Edgaras Jankauskas and Takis Fyssas. Hearts are now a very well-known club in Portugal."

Hearts boss Ivanauskas has said that he will rotate his squad this season to accommodate the growing number of games his side will face if they remain in Europe and go on a run in both domestic cup competitions and he believes Costa will prove to be a valuable addition.

Tiago's deal was finalised on Thursday night, as the Champions League signing deadline approached, so the player will be free to play against AEK Athens next week.

Ivanauskas admitted that he is still hoping to add to his squad before the transfer window closes at the end of August.

He said: "He was with us in Austria, he has done well in the pre-season and I am sure that he will do a good job for us, we need to have a good squad for rotation purposes. His best position is right-back but he can also play right midfield.

"He can play in the Champions League because we completed the deal before the deadline. We are interested in one or two other players we would like to sign before the end of the transfer window but at the moment we are simply concentrating on the games coming up and in the Champions League."

The Tynecastle coach is also hoping that their now established links with Benfica will see more stars come to Hearts in the future and the growing band of former players will make it easier for arrivals from Portugal to settle in at the club.

He added: "We have a good relationship with Benfica now, a few of our players have come from there, and that can be good for us. Bruno Aguiar and Takis Fyssas were b

Taken from the Scotsman
oth players there and it hopefully means that the integration process will be a bit easier for Tiago because of that."