Hearts face Portuguese competition to land key summer target
And the struggling Portuguese club are now managed by veteran Scottish boss Stuart Baxter.
Hearts have targeted the 25-year-old winger for months and failed in an attempt to land him in the January transfer window after being unable to agree a fee with his club, FC Tobol, who accused the Tynecastle side of putting in a derisory offer.
Read more:
The Scottish Cup losing semi-finalists have offered him a deal, with his contract expiring in October and hope to get him in the door in the summer.
But they face serious competition from Porto cub Boavista, who this week appointed 71-year-old Scot Baxter in a last gasp bid to save them from relegation.
Baxter, who was regularly linked with jobs in Scotland, including Hearts, Celtic and Aberdeen, has managed clubs in Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Japan, South Africa, Turkey and India and has been manager of both South Africa twice and Finland.
He has targeted Chesnokov and reports in Kazakhstan have suggested they have offered a bigger package than Hearts.
However, they sit second bottom of the league with four games left and are in serious danger of relegation unless Baxter can save them.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
12 minutes ago
- Daily Record
I'm an ex Liverpool kid who was lost boy at Hibs and banned from every Edinburgh nightclub for peeing against a wall
The former Liverpool kid admits his time in the capital in 2011 was life-changing as he changed his ways Victor Palsson was barred from every nightclub in Edinburgh when he was a Hibs player. The Icelander got drunk and was caught urinating against a wall, which resulted in a blanket ban. But after quitting the booze, Palsson got his career back on track. And the former Liverpool kid has enjoyed a career which has taken him from New York to Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium - and now Plymouth. Palsson, along with his Iceland team-mates, left Scotland looking punch drunk at Hampden on Friday night as they secured a 3-1 friendly win. It brought back memories of his time in the capital with the Hibees in 2011, which he says was a life-changing experience. The 34-year-old, who scored Iceland's third goal against Steve Clarke's side, said: 'It was a very long time ago. I was a young lost boy back then. 'Looking back, I was young and not really aware of the importance of life and being a professional footballer. I made a lot of mistakes, especially at Hibs. It started off OK but then it wasn't good. 'I didn't leave in a good way either, so I think my time there is remembered for the wrong things. There was a big incident, a six month ban from all the nightclubs. But as I said, I was lost. 'It helped me focus, 100 percent. A few years later I made some big decisions to sort out my life. I'm happy I did that. I gave up drinking. The time at Hibs played a part in that. 'I just couldn't handle my drinking. I gave it up and haven't had a drink for almost 11 years now. I had to focus and I've managed to make a decent career.' Palsson is now at Plymouth Argyle who were relegated from the English Championship last season. That was despite the efforts of Scottish striker Ryan Hardie, who bagged 12 goals for the Pilgrims. And Palsson insists he could play for Scotland. He said: 'Ryan is a really good player and I hope we can hold on to him. 'For two years, he's hit double figure goals in the Championship. He talks to us about Scotland. He's a great professional who wants to play for his country and I think he's done enough to get a chance - even in a friendly. 'Hopefully we'll see him play for Scotland in the future. Ryan is a great finisher and so quick. He's rapid.' Iceland fully deserved their shock win over Clarke's men at Hampden on Friday night - even if they were helped by mistakes from rookie keeper Ciaran Slicker. Palsson was delighted with the result and admits they took advantage of the goalie's fragility. He said: 'We played some great football in the first half and didn't give away many chances. We suffered a bit in the second half but overall it was a fair win. 'I try to put myself in the shoes of the young goalkeeper. He came on after two minutes and we could see with his first few kicks, he wasn't 100 percent. 'We just started pressing him and it gave us blood on the teeth. We heard the crowd boo at half-time so we just said, keep doing what we're doing. It was a good win for us.'
Daily Record
20 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Dor Turgeman transfer warning as Rangers told to 'up the ante' in months-long hunt for Maccabi Tel Aviv man
We told you how the Israeli striker is a top target for the Ibrox club Rangers have been told to up the ante in their pursuit of Dor Turgeman as Maccabi Tel Aviv reportedly told the Ibrox club £4million won't cut it. Record Sport revealed how the 21-year-old striker is wanted by the Light Blues as Russell Martin leads them into a new era. Turgeman is a top target but reports in Israel say the Israeli champions value him higher than the fee being discussed, however, Record Sport understands talks are ongoing. Israel Hayom report that Rangers 'will have to significantly increase the amount'. Ibrox scouts are said to have been watching Turgeman in action for 'several months', including for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Europa League and for Israel against Estonia and Norway in March. The report states that ex-boss Philippe Clement had an input around that time and it has been rubber stamped by Martin. Maccabi Tel Aviv expect to lose their main man this summer and have already been looking for replacements. You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers page, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We're also WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here. Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport's newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.
.png%3Fwidth%3D940%26auto%3Dwebp%26quality%3D75%26crop%3D3%3A2%2Csmart%26trim%3D&w=3840&q=100)
Scotsman
42 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Hearts target addresses Tynecastle links as he declares what's needed in next move
The Hearts transfer target has been speaking on his future and has named what he'll need from wherever he goes next Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Daniel Arzani has addressed his future as Hearts look to sign the Australian international. The winger is currently on duty with the Socceroos but he is out of contract at Melbourne Victory, where has impressed. Arzani has rebuilt his stock at home after showing early promise on the international scene, prompting Manchester City to make a move, but loans like time at Celtic faltered amid injury issues. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad As the Evening News recently reported, Hearts have offered the Australian international a return to British football. Having already agreed to sign Greek wide player Alexandros Kyziridis and with Kazakhstani star Islam Chesnokov possibly on the way too, the Gorgie side could make it a third winger in the door at Tynecastle this summer. What Hearts transfer target said on future Now 26,Arzani is preparing for pastures new and has outlined his thoughts on the future amid Hearts interest. He says that wherever he ends up, he needs to be playing regularly. Arzani said: 'I think anyone now, any of the boys looking to move or off contract, that thought process will be in their head. It's a big deal, a World Cup. It's massive. Everyone wants to be a part of it. It is going to be really competitive and we have a lot of talent coming out of Australia as well. I think it is definitely important that if I go somewhere that I'll be playing week in, week out. I'm not sure what I am doing yet, what direction I am heading in but that's definitely part of the equation." Daniel Arzani verdict on previous European stint The winger has held nothing back on what he thought of his first crack at European football. He said recently: 'The stint that I had overseas, for me was super disappointing and felt like a massive, almost waste of time. I think what didn't help me was that I was constantly doing these five, six-month loan deals while being signed to City – that just doesn't work out. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's too difficult to go into teams and just start performing straight off after five months and get into a starting line-up. You're in and out and you're not really that important to the club. So I'm hoping that if I was to make that move over, it would be on a permanent transfer, and hopefully that way I'd be given more of a chance as well.' Former A-League star Tommy Oar recently said of the attacker: 'There's not been many young Australian players like him in the last kind of 10, 20, years, to be honest. I think he's so exciting every time he gets the ball. I do think if you look at kind of his trajectory, and you know why there's maybe been so many critics, I think that he's a little bit maybe a victim of his own early success. 'Because when he broke onto the scene, he was obviously mesmerizing to watch. He was so young, got into the Socceroos, went to the World Cup, and everybody put his level so high so early, that any time he didn't play that to that level, he was quickly criticised. I think that can be a little bit harsh, because especially over the last few months. I think that for somebody, if there was someone who'd never seen Daniel Arzani play, and you saw him play over the last few months, you'd be thinking, Who is this kid? He's unbelievable. 'The way he takes players on is so positive. So I do empathise with him a little bit in terms of the criticism that he cops, but at the same time, I think that he's matured a lot in recent times. This season, it was a really important season. Remember him obviously at Macarthur, things didn't work out for him the way he would have wanted. I think that this was a really decisive season. And so far, particularly in the second half of the season, he's kind of reminded everyone of how good he is.'
