logo
Uchenna Ogundu wanted by Hearts as part of triple transfer blitz as striker flagged up by analytics

Uchenna Ogundu wanted by Hearts as part of triple transfer blitz as striker flagged up by analytics

Daily Recorda day ago

The Sanliurfaspor teenager, 19, is the subject of an offer from the Jambos
Hearts are looking to land Nigerian striker Uchenna Ogundu.
The Jambos have pitched to land the teenager from Sanliurfaspor.

The Turkish second-tier club are prepared to let their prize asset go for a small fee but are looking for a large sell-on.

The 19-year-old has been flagged up by analytics with Derek McInnes and his scouting team doing a lot of additional work on him.
Ogundu pitched in with six goals and two assists in his breakthrough season with Sanliurfaspor.
He can also play wide on the right but his main attributes are his pace, strength and an eye for goal.
Ogunda only moved to Turkey from the Diamond Academy in his homeland last August.
He initially joined just after fellow experienced countryman Olaneaju Kayode.
Kayode quickly won a move and Ogunda got the chance to step up and replace him, making his senior debut in January.

Since then he and his career haven't looked back.
Hearts are also looking to close the transfer of fellow Claudio Braga from Norwegian side Aalesund.

A fee has been agreed and the deal should be finalised to allow the 25-year-old to join Hearts for pre-season.
Hearts are close to finalising the move for McInnes to team up with the big defender who impressed under him when he was on-loan at Kilmarnock.

Hearts are also hitting brick walls in their pursuit of another winger.
Out-of-contract Melbourne Victory star Daniel Arzani is a target but the former Celtic player is now considering a number of European options, which could offer Champions League football.
Kazakhstan international Islam Chesnokov is another who is on the wanted list but Hearts have been struggling to agree a fee with his side, FC Tobol, in this window.
Hearts have already signed Elton Kabangu, Christian Borchgrevink, Oison McEntee and Alexanderos Kyzirdis.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

England Under-21s make perfect start to European Championship defence
England Under-21s make perfect start to European Championship defence

Leader Live

time10 minutes ago

  • Leader Live

England Under-21s make perfect start to European Championship defence

Goals either side of the break from Harvey Elliott and Jonathan Rowe had put Lee Carsley's side in control. Daniel Fila reduced the deficit in the 50th minute, before England defender Charlie Cresswell headed in a third from a corner with 15 minutes left. The Young Lions – who beat Spain two years ago to win the European title for a third time – had made a bright start in their opening Group B fixture at the the MOL Arena in Dunajska Streda. Job done on matchday one. Lee Carsley's #YoungLions are off to a winning start at the #U21EURO finals! 💪 — England (@England) June 12, 2025 Newcastle defender Tino Livramento made an early break down the left, with his ball in was palmed away by Czech goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek before captain James McAtee scuffed his shot wide. Ipswich winger Omari Hutchinson was also lively on the left flank, cutting inside to fire a rising shot which was tipped over. The Czechs threatened in the 12th minute when Martin Suchomel sent a cross from the left through the England six-yard box, which Vaclav Sejk just failed to connect with. Brighton goalkeeper James Beadle then made a smart reaction save from Stepan Chaloupek's powerful header, pushing the ball over, after a free-kick was swung into the England penalty area. After soaking up plenty of pressure, England took the lead in the 38th minute. Harvey Elliott's tenth U21 goal ⚽️#U21EURO — UEFA Men's Youth (@UEFAMensYouth) June 12, 2025 Hutchinson drove forwards from the left before laying the ball out to Livramento. The defender's looping cross through the six-yard box was picked up at the back post by McAtee, who laid it back for Liverpool winger Elliott to fire a low shot into the far corner. The Czech Republic were almost straight back on level terms when a corner was flicked on by Krystof Danek and the ball bounced off England defender Jarell Quansah, but Beadle got down to make a save on the line. England – without the likes of Liam Delap and Jobe Bellingham who will be at the Club World Cup – doubled their lead three minutes into the second half. Livramento's low cross was touched home at the near post by Monaco forward Rowe ahead of Czech defender Filip Prebsl, with the ball diverting in off goalkeeper Hornicek. The Czechs, though, soon pulled a goal back in the 50th minute when Fila got in front of Livramento to power a free header past Beadle from Sejk's lofted cross. GOAL! Daniel Fila scores in the 51st minute! #U21EURO #CZE21 — Czech Football National Team (@ceskarepre_eng) June 12, 2025 England boss Carsley made an attacking double change with 20 minutes left, sending on Arsenal forward Ethan Nwaneri to replace Rowe and Birmingham's Jay Stansfield for McAtee. Nwaneri almost made an instant impact when he cut in from the right and curled a low strike goalwards, which was deflected past the far post. Toulouse centre-back Cresswell restored England's two-goal cushion with 15 minutes left when he showed great strength to get up and power down a header from Alex Scott's corner. Beadle then made another smart save from Czech substitute Adam Karabec in stoppage time. England next face Slovenia in Nitra on Sunday, with their last group fixture against Germany on June 18.

Hearts goalkeeping issues played down as Craig Gordon discusses a new Scotland opportunity
Hearts goalkeeping issues played down as Craig Gordon discusses a new Scotland opportunity

Scotsman

time17 minutes ago

  • Scotsman

Hearts goalkeeping issues played down as Craig Gordon discusses a new Scotland opportunity

Season 2025/26 is just around the corner 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... Four Hearts goalkeepers are recovering from injury ahead of the new season following a series of fitness issues. First-team members Craig Gordon, Zander Clark and Ryan Fulton have been sidelined alongside reserve keeper Harry Stone. With players reporting to Riccarton for pre-season training next Friday, Gordon played down concerns over the lack of fully-fit goalies. He missed Hearts' last three Premiership games of the 2024/25 campaign as well as Scotland's friendlies against Iceland and Liechtenstein due to a shoulder problem. Clark had a foot ligament complaint which resurfaced in the final league game at Kilmarnock. Fulton took his place after 22 minutes of that match but then injured his groin. Stone returned from his loan at Ayr United with a knock which precluded him from their last four games of the season. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad New Hearts head coach Derek McInnes and his staff will assess the situation when players arrive back at the club's training ground. Gordon, though, is hopeful he and others will be fit and ready for competitive matches starting on 12 July in the Premier Sports Cup against Dunfermline. 'Just as well we didn't get to the [Scottish] cup final because I don't know who would have played in goal,' joked the 42-year-old. 'Yes, it's not a great place for the goalkeepers at the moment. Luckily enough, we've got a bit of time before the games start up again, so I think we'll all be fine.' Gordon has more reason than most to accelerate a recovery with his testimonial match due on 26 July against former club Sunderland. He has held talks with McInnes and believes the new manager is reinvigorated by the new season's challenge in Gorgie. 'I spoke to him last week. He phoned me from his holidays and he's very excited. He's really motivated to get in and get started,' said the keeper. 'I spoke to a few other players as well and that's the thing that's come through - how excited he is to get in and start getting things in place straight away. I think that's refreshed everybody, that positive mindset that he's put on everybody already. We're going to work hard, we're going to get ready for the season. I think everybody's really looking forward to getting started now.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scotland keeper issue as Norwich and Ipswich EFL men feature at Hampden Goalkeeping injuries also struck the Scotland camp in Gordon's absence last week. Angus Gunn, who recently left Norwich City, was forced off with an ankle problem just minutes into Friday night's friendly with Iceland. Ipswich Town's Cieran Slicker took his place as substitute for an international debut which won't be fondly remembered. He was at fault for all three Iceland goals in the 3-1 defeat at Hampden Park. 'It's happened now. There's not really too much I can say about that,' admitted Gordon. 'I know he's a confident, strong young boy and this is right at the very beginning of his career. He's got a long time to come back from this and I think he will. He'll go back to his club and work away and try and get more game time. But that's part of his story now and it's now about the comeback. You can make that work for you. I think that's what he has to do now is accept that it's happened, move on and continue trying to improve and get more games. Get back there and have another shot at it.' Gordon intends to contact Slicker for a chat as a long-serving member of the goalkeepers' union. 'I'll probably let him have his holiday first and maybe get away for a little while,' he said. 'As a goalkeeper, you know you're going to make mistakes during a season. You're going to cost the team goals, that's every single goalkeeper for every single club all over the world. If you play a whole season, you're going to lose probably a couple of bad goals that are going to cost your team. You have to accept that. 'You have to accept that as part of playing the position that you are going to be the reason your team doesn't win from time to time. That's just the nature of it. You have to move past that, accept that that is the case and not be scared of it. Still do the right things, still make the decisions. That's the only way to move on from it. It's that acceptance that's going to happen. It wasn't great, but we move on. We try not to do the same thing again.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Slicker, 22, found himself thrust into the international fold despite playing just seven competitive games in his career to date. The situation highlighted the dearth of emerging Scottish keepers playing at the top level for national coach Steve Clarke to select. Aberdeen's second-choice, Ross Doohan, was then called up to face Liechtenstein. Gordon watched the games and acknowledged that the international goalkeeping spots are currently up for grabs. 'I think the opportunity is there right now for the next batch of goalkeepers to come through,' he stated. 'There's a few of them that have been out on loan, been down in the lower leagues and done quite well. It's about their progression now and getting that right and making sure they're still developing. Still getting games, but also still working on everything else they need to work on. I think this is the opportunity at this moment in time to focus on that, to concentrate and make sure we are getting the goalkeepers the right pathway to get them through.' Craig Gordon's future decided with new Hearts contract One of his long-term career ambitions is to become a goalkeeping coach and help nurture a new generation of top quality Scottish No.1s. 'Yeah, I think that's something that I would like to do,' said Gordon. 'That's an area that we need to look at and I need to try and improve. We need to bring through more goalkeepers. I don't know why that hasn't really happened, really, over a number of years. We have had good goalkeepers and guys that have played in the leagues for a lot of years. 'I think, obviously, the international team was quite a closed shop for such a long period of time. Perhaps the exposure to that wasn't there and maybe that was the reason why. But that's not the case anymore. So, hopefully we can get people in and even exposed to that level of training. Because when you go and train with the Scotland team, the level is so much quicker than what it is when you train at club level. Especially from the Scottish teams to the international team. You've got guys playing in the top leagues in the world. You notice a difference in the speed of the game. So, if we can push more goalkeepers towards that and give them that experience, then that will improve them as well.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Coaching is for the future, though. Gordon will remain purely a player for season 2025/26 after agreeing to extend his Hearts contract by another 12 months. A hectic first half of the season made him wonder if he wanted to continue, but a more regular schedule from Christmas onwards helped finalise the decision in his mind. 'It was right towards the end of the season. When things went down to one game a week, I felt better,' he explained. 'In the second part of the season, I actually felt myself getting stronger. That was the reason I felt that I could probably still do another year. The European games coming thick and fast in the middle of the first part of the season was difficult. Coming back from my leg break, that was the first time I'd played a stretch of games in a row. I think it always takes quite a while to actually get back to the level you were before. I felt towards the end of the season that I could start to feel that I was getting even stronger. So, that was why I thought I could still go another year and go better again.' • Tickets for the Craig Gordon Testimonial Match – Hearts v Sunderland, Tynecastle Park, 3pm, Saturday 26th July – are on sale now through Supporters can keep up to date with all of the latest Craig Gordon Testimonial information at

A look at the longevity of Premier League managers
A look at the longevity of Premier League managers

South Wales Argus

time22 minutes ago

  • South Wales Argus

A look at the longevity of Premier League managers

Frank had been the top flight's second longest-serving manager, having been appointed nearly seven years ago in October 2018. Here, the PA news agency looks at the new-look top five. Pep Guardiola, Manchester City PEP 💬 From day one, I felt incredible love and respect with all my assistants and coaches here. If I did not feel that I wouldn't be here. — Manchester City (@ManCity) November 22, 2024 Appointed: July 1, 2016 Guardiola's famed intensity has previously led to earlier than expected departures from Barcelona and Bayern Munich, with a sabbatical year in between, but at City he has put down roots – signing a contract extension last season to take his reign beyond a decade. He has won six league titles and the 2022-23 Champions League among his 14 major trophies with the club but will go into the new campaign seeking a response to a season of dramatic under-performance. Mikel Arteta, Arsenal Arsenal's impressive performances under Mikel Arteta have not been rewarded by trophies (Bradley Collyer/PA) Appointed: December 22, 2019 Premier League runners-up three years in a row, Arsenal's manager now also assumes second spot in these rankings from Frank. The Spaniard will reach six years at the helm just before Christmas but despite consistent strong performances, has only the 2019-20 FA Cup to show for his time in charge and will be desperate to finally add a league title. Marco Silva, Fulham Marco Silva celebrates a win (Bradley Collyer/PA) Appointed: July 1, 2021 Scott Parker's departure following relegation in 2021 led Fulham to turn to Silva and his has been a successful reign, winning the Championship title in his first season before finishing 10th, 13th and then 11th in the top flight. Silva was also linked with Spurs before Frank's appointment but looks set to lead the Cottagers into a fifth season. Eddie Howe, Newcastle Newcastle have been able to finally celebrate trophy success again under Eddie Howe (Owen Humphreys/PA) Appointed: November 8, 2021 The man to finally bring silverware to St James' Park after a wait of 56 years, Howe was appointed shortly after the Saudi-backed takeover of the club in 2021 – though not before Steve Bruce was allowed to remain in charge of his boyhood club for his 1,000th game in management. Second-bottom and winless at the time, Howe's Magpies finished 11th and have since been fourth, seventh and fifth in his three full seasons in charge. Unai Emery, Aston Villa Unai Emery has brought the good times back to Villa Park (Nigel French/PA) Appointed: November 5, 2022 Appointed almost a year after Howe, Emery also instigated a swift turnaround. Villa were outside the relegation zone on alphabetical order alone, ahead of Southampton, when he took over but finished seventh and then fourth the following season. A run to the Champions League quarter-finals ensued, beating Bayern Munich along the way before losing to eventual champions Paris St Germain, alongside a sixth-placed league finish. One extreme to the other Thomas Frank goes from the second longest-serving manager at a Premier League club to the newest! He spent 6 years and 7 months at Brentford before moving to Spurs 🤝 — Premier League (@premierleague) June 12, 2025 Frank goes from one of the longest-serving Premier League managers to one of eight in post for less than a year. Prior to the Dane's appointment, the shortest reign belonged to David Moyes – though in a curious quirk, Moyes is also the Premier League manager who has spent longest with his current club thanks to a previous 11-year spell at Everton between 2002 and 2013. Two more managers will hit the two-year mark early next month – Bournemouth's Andoni Iraola on July 1 and Daniel Farke three days later with newly-promoted Leeds. Fabian Hurzeler has his one-year anniversary at Brighton this coming Sunday.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store