Hearts' top scorer Velicka on verge of Viking move

As Velicka is officially on loan from Kaunas, Hearts will not benefit financially from the move. They will also be leaving themselves dangerously short of a proven goalscorer at a time of the season when they are trying to build on a recent modest improvement in form and claim a place in the top six.

Without his top scorer, Hearts' caretaker manager Steven Frail would have to choose between Ricardas Beniusis, Christian Nade and Calum Elliot when selecting a striker. Beniusis had a horrendous start to his career with the club when he was well short of the pace on his debut against Hibs, but has looked far sharper recently. Elliot has not looked ready to take on the responsibility of being the main target man, and Nade, although impressive at times, has yet to have a run of consistently good form.

Mauricio Pinilla remains on Hearts' books and is arguably the most naturally gifted player at Tynecastle, but he is currently injured again. Juho Makela has been out of favour for some time. And Jamie Mole, who returned last month from a spell on loan to Queen of the South, is too inexperienced to be anything like an adequate replacement for Velicka.

If the Lithuanian does leave for Norway, his departure is likely to cause dismay among those Hearts fans
who still hold out hopes of salvaging something from the season. The striker's sale would also cast a more general doubt over the ambitions of Vladimir Romanov, Hearts' majority shareholder.

Far from building a squad designed to compete towards the top of the SPL, Romanov has consistently downgraded the quality of the team since the Scottish Cup was won in 2006, at the end of his first season in control. The Ghanaian international Laryea Kingston arrived at Hearts this summer and has brought undoubted quality to the midfield, but overall Hearts today are nowhere close in ability to the side which finished league runners-up to Celtic in 2005-06.

Velicka was already ruled out of Hearts' visit to Motherwell this afternoon because of a pelvic problem, according to Frail. With negotiations ongoing, however, he would surely have been omitted from the travelling party in any case.

Taken from the Scotsman