© EuroFootball.com
In the third place in the Scottish Championship, the "Lithuanian" Edinburgh "Hearts" strengthened their team with players from Russian teams - the club was supplemented by Laryea Kingston from Moscow for half a year rental agreements.
Both, 26-year-old Ghanaian L. Kingston and 23-year-old G. Gogua, will need work permits to work in the United Kingdom, but this shouldn't cause major problems as both players represent their national teams.
"Hearts" club owner Vladimir Romanov together with the team's head coach Valdas Ivanauskas, who is well acquainted with Russian football, went to Moscow to deal with business during the same time that V. Romanov's supported "Kaunas" team was participating in the UEFA Cup tournament. Without loaning, they also agreed on the possibility of acquiring both players after the season.
"Gogua and Kingston will be loaned to us until the summer, and then we hope to sign a long-term agreement with both," said V. Ivanauskas, stating that they will not rush to let them play in the important Saturday match against Glasgow "Rangers" - "They could theoretically be ready for the weekend, but there are few chances that they will appear on the field. I think they will have opportunities later."
Defensive midfielder and right-back L. Kingston, who can play in the positions, arrived in Russia in 2004 from Tel Aviv's "Hapoel" and moved from Grozny's "Terek" to "Lokomotiv" at the beginning of 2006. The Ghanian national team player, who missed the 2006 World Cup due to disqualification for an incident in the African Nations Cup, was also linked to Bolton in the English Premier League, but according to reports, decided to choose the Edinburgh team.
G. Gogua, who plays as a left-back and center-back, was also linked to the same "Lokomotiv", as well as to Turkish clubs Istanbul's "Galatasaray" and "Trabzonspor" and Amsterdam's "Ajax". He represented the Georgian national team 16 times and is compared to Italian star Gennaro Gattuso in his country.
Meanwhile, "Portsmouth" and Serbian national team defender Ognjen Koroman, who has recently attracted interest from "Hearts", is unlikely to go to Scotland. It is believed that the player wants to return to his homeland and represent Belgrade's "Crvena Zvezda" club.
