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00:00Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Edinburgh Evening News' Hearts Digest podcast
00:04with club correspondent Barry Anderson and I'm your host Martin Simpson. Hearts are through to
00:10the fifth round of the Scottish Cup, before that they'll be back to league action later on this
00:15month and of course the January transfer window continues at pace, that's where we'll start as
00:21always this month with our latest transfer bulletin. So Barry it's all about arrivals at the
00:27moment, last Monday we weren't in a place to sort of offer up any names although we did have a few
00:34that we were trying to get verified, now we've got three names that we can tell the fans about,
00:39so let's start off with midfielder Sander Carton, let's tell the Hearts fans a little bit about him
00:47and where we are in terms of a deal to bring him to Tyne Castle. Yeah Hearts are working on that at
00:55the moment, he's at SK Brann at the moment, contracted there until 2026, so one of these
01:06players, he's 29 at the moment, so he's one of these players who's if you're getting that
01:10an age where he's at his peak, you know he's in his prime supposedly, so he's had a lot of
01:16experience, he's quite attack minded, got a good left foot on him and tends to play as what you
01:22would call a kind of traditional number eight centre midfielder who likes to get forward and
01:28create things and I don't think he's a massive goal scorer himself, more of a creator, but he can
01:35chip in with some goals as well, so looks pretty decent, looks to be the sort of player, again this
01:42is Jamestown Analytics at work, so he's been identified by their system as somebody who could
01:48come in, not cost a massive amount of money, come in and slot into the Scottish League and do a job
01:55there, so I don't think it's about to happen today, but you never know, these things can
02:01change quickly, so I think it's certainly one that Hearts would like to get over the line before the
02:07month is out. Well if you're listening to this or watching this video as part of the Transfer
02:16Bulletin, you can listen to the full podcast which will be available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, all
02:22of our regular podcast platforms. Further on Kortum there Barry, just for anyone that's
02:29not aware, Bran are one of, if not the biggest clubs in Norwegian football and he appears to be
02:37going off of what I've seen, pretty much a regular, a real first name on the team sheet type player
02:43for them, that to me suggests a really decent pedigree.
02:48Yeah, as I said the experience that he's got I think would be suited to the Scottish League and
02:54again you see a lot of the Scandinavian leagues, the players that come from Norway, Sweden etc, that
03:00it's a similar type of football, it's a similar type of environment, the countries are quite
03:05similar in their cultures, so he wouldn't have too much, and they obviously don't speak very
03:10good English, so he wouldn't have too much issue settling in here. I think it'd be a decent deal
03:15for us if they can get it finalised because they have needed somebody just to make those runs
03:22from centre midfield beyond the strikers and you know beyond the winger even at times it hasn't,
03:26there's not too many sort of natural players in there who do that, if you look at Benny Beningame,
03:32Kammo Devlin, Malarkey Boateng, Callum Newenhoff's just coming back, close to coming back after
03:39injury, so there isn't anybody there who you would say is a, what you might call an old-fashioned
03:45box-to-box midfielder, somebody who's going to you know cover that rules, that central area and get
03:50beyond forwards to get in the final third, so Cartwom's got the potential to do that, he played,
03:57the brand generally play a 4-3-3 and he plays on the right of the midfield three, although he's
04:03left-footed, so he's able to hang out wide, come inside and he's able to double up in the centre
04:09if they're getting crowded out, things like that, I think he's 5 foot 11, so reasonable presence
04:14about him as well and one of these players I think who has an industry about him and an
04:22unspectacular player you might say, but one of these players who from what I've heard about him,
04:27one of these players that you want on your team because he does so much of the
04:32so much of the work, so much of the legwork and I'm quite intrigued to see just how he fits in at heart.
04:41Next thing we're going to talk about is Michael Steinbinder, Austrian defender
04:46coming out of the Swedish leagues, this is our Kai Rolls replacement then.
04:52I would say probably Jamie McCart's more the Kai Rolls replacement because he's the left-sided
04:56centre, but I think Steinbinder's as right-footed as he'll come in and compete with Craig Halkett
05:01initially and obviously Frankie Kent once he's back from injury. Steinbinder's 24, so at an age
05:11where he's clearly got a lot of development still to do, quite a strong and aggressive centre-half
05:17and I think after a time playing in Austria and Sweden, I think he's played over 100 top-flight
05:22games in those two countries, he's keen to get a chance in the UK and see if he can step over to
05:28this kind of platform and progress further. So again, Jamestown at work where they identify
05:34somebody, in this case he's obviously younger than Cartham, but somebody who's at an age can be signed
05:41for not an inordinate amount of money, who can come in and potentially develop and in two, three,
05:51four years' time be sold on for a significant profit and be interesting to see if that's how
05:57it works out, but he's got a lot of attributes that would make him or indicate that he could
06:03succeed in Scotland as a dominant centre-half.
06:06It's interesting you say that because I was watching the Scottish football social show,
06:11I apologise if I got the name wrong, the premier sports weekly show that's presented by Daryl Currie,
06:18Johan Mjálby was a guest on that, obviously someone who's coached in the Swedish league
06:22recently, he's very familiar with that, he was there, he didn't really give him the most
06:27glowing review I have to say, he definitely highlighted some of the potential that he had,
06:32but there was questions as to whether he would be a good fit for Scottish football,
06:39Mjálby somewhat suggested that despite being quite a tall and seemingly physical looking player,
06:46that maybe the game here might just be a little bit rough for him there.
06:53Yeah, I did read those comments, I didn't see the actual show that you're talking about,
06:58but I did read some of the stuff that was written in Mjálby's comments and fair enough,
07:03he's coached over there, he'd probably have more of an insight than us, but again the little bit
07:08that I've watched of Steinwender, I think pace is one of his biggest assets, balls in behind,
07:13he's very quick, he reacts quick and he can cover the ground extremely quick to deal with those
07:18sorts of things, he's pretty decent in the air both defensively and offensively, I haven't seen
07:23a lot of him in terms of how he uses the ball coming out of defence, but if you're playing in
07:31Sweden or Norway, countries like that, there's a physical aspect to those leagues, it's not
07:37tiki-taka Spanish football over there, so if you can cope over there, then you'd have a chance of
07:42coping here I would suggest, so it's one of those ones that Hearts have clearly identified him and
07:49done a bit of homework and scouting and things on him and obviously feel that he could strengthen
07:53their back line, I think he's clearly a long-term signing, I'm not saying that he can't go on the
08:03team right now and make an impact, but I think at 24 they're clearly seeing him as somebody who
08:11can develop and become a better player, not just a better footballer, but a bigger asset
08:16during his time here, if they get this deal over the line and sign him,
08:20he's somebody that they could use, who could get the best out of him while he's here and then
08:25potentially sell on for a much bigger fee in future, I think that's the theory behind it,
08:31that's the theory behind a lot of the Jamestown analytics movements if you like, so we need to
08:37wait and see if that's how it pans out.
08:40And the third and final name, Islam Chesnikov, so we've spoken about a midfielder, we've spoken
08:45about a defender, time to speak about a forward, he's a name that might be somewhat familiar to
08:52Scottish football fans because he was linked with Kilmarnock in the summer I believe,
08:57obviously nothing came of that, now looks like he's a player Hearts are very keen on,
09:02he's a player that has quite a lot of interest across Europe by the looks of it.
09:06Yeah, he does, he is well sought after, but from what I'm hearing at the moment,
09:17I appreciate we're talking on Monday here, Hearts are probably slightly ahead of others
09:23in their pursuit of him, they've had eyes on this guy for a while,
09:30he's a Kazakhstan international, he's got 11 caps, two goals, 25 years old,
09:36so he's already got a pedigree and another one like Steinbender who, if they sign him,
09:41would be coming in as somebody who can hit the ground running and have an impact right now,
09:49but who can also develop and get better and become more of an asset as time goes on.
09:53We spoke to his representative last week and I've got some of his quotes here,
09:59he obviously confirmed there was interest from Hearts, he's one of the most talented players
10:04in Kazakhstan, blah blah blah, and he says we're moving forward with Hearts already,
10:09Islam's a very interesting player, he has a powerful left foot, a powerful shot and he
10:13does a big volume of work, so he'd be very suitable for Scottish football.
10:16So, by those, and we appreciate this is somebody who's talking him up anyway,
10:20obviously he's going to talk up his client, but given he's got international experience
10:25and some European experience already playing for Tobal Kastani,
10:28then he, on paper, seems to have all the attributes that Hearts need,
10:34they're crying out for a winger, a direct winger who's going to roast fullbacks on a regular basis,
10:40deliver tantalising crosses and get himself into goal scoring positions and put the ball in the net.
10:45And on paper, Islam Chesnikov seems to have all those attributes.
10:49So, the others, clearly it's going to take time for this guy to get a work permit,
10:54if indeed a deal is agreed, then it's going to take him time to adjust,
10:58because it's a very different culture from Kazakhstan to Scotland, as we all know.
11:01So, Hearts will want him to come in and hit the ground running and he'll certainly be desperate,
11:09if he gets over here, he'll be desperate to come in and make an effort.
11:11But there will be other factors as to how he settles in here and I think he'll need a little bit of time.
11:17But certainly plenty of potential in him and would be a good sign in for Hearts,
11:21one that the fans are certainly excited about at the moment.
11:25Do you think that'll, the fact the fans seem excited about it,
11:28that'll hopefully give him a bit of time if he doesn't necessarily hit the ground running?
11:32I just feel like, I don't want to criticise someone before they've even arrived or something,
11:38I've never even seen play, but I'm a firm believer with the exception of a few smaller nations,
11:44international football is international football and you don't reach that stage with any country
11:50without having something about you. But he's played his entire career in Kazakhstan and Belarus,
11:58two leagues that, hands up, I know absolutely nothing about. So, I don't know, I can't say anything.
12:06I wouldn't claim for you to be an expert on those leagues, Barry,
12:10but if you're a Hearts fan that's maybe concerned about that, what can you say?
12:17Again, it's about potential. We touched on Jamestown earlier.
12:21This is the Jamestown model where they identify players who are not household names
12:28but have the potential to come in and make an immediate impact
12:33or the potential to come in and play and develop and become a bigger asset.
12:37So, Cheznikov is certainly in that bracket. Now, the Kazakhstan league and the Belarus
12:44league are not for shrinking violets, Belarus in particular.
12:50There's a real physicality in those divisions. There are some technical players in those leagues,
12:57not a lot of them, and that's why Cheznikov stands out in his native league because he's got
13:03this technical ability, pace, eye for goal that not a lot of other players have. So, bringing that
13:09to Scotland is a challenge for him. To implement that in Scotland is going to be a challenge for
13:15him. But he's young enough and he's got the potential. He's clearly got some ability. As
13:21you say, you're not playing international football. He's already got 11 caps and a couple of goals.
13:26You're not playing international football if you don't have something about you these days, even
13:30for so-called smaller countries. So, I think because of the foreign name and all that, it's
13:40exciting from that perspective for his fans. And the reference that he's a pacey winger who works
13:46really hard and he's got an eye for goal, that appeals to fans in British football. That's the
13:52kind of thing that fans in this country want. So, I think he's got a lot of attributes that could
13:59make him a real success. It will depend on how he adjusts to Scotland as a country and if he can
14:04settle in. It's a wait-and-see one. A lot of these deals, you look at Kenneth Vargas. I've brought
14:12Kenneth Vargas over in summer 2023 and he's got all the attributes as well, all the tools there
14:20to be a really good forward player. And in fits and starts, he has looked a very good forward
14:25player for Hearts, just not consistently enough, particularly in front of goal, you'd have to say.
14:31So, Cheznikov might be the same, might come in with all the potential and all the prospects of
14:37doing well and it might not work. But I think this is where Hearts are putting their faith in.
14:42James Towne's software and analytical workings and just how they go about identifying players.
14:50It's certainly worked at other clubs as well. This is well documented. So, if they can put
14:56forward the same level of expertise at Hearts, then it certainly promises well.