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00:00Hello and welcome to the latest Hearts Digest podcast
00:03with Edinburgh Evening News Club correspondent Barry Anderson
00:06and I'm your host, Martin Simpson.
00:09As always in January, we'll be going into what's been another busy week at Tyne Castle
00:13with a positive result at the weekend.
00:15We'll also be looking ahead to the next competitive match
00:18but first we'll be starting with all the latest transfer news at Tyne Castle
00:23and I think Barry, the biggest one that we need to kick off with
00:26coming seemingly out of nowhere for me, I don't know about you
00:29but Danilo Lugocchi could be on his way out of Tyne Castle just six months after arriving.
00:36Yeah, I think that caught a lot of people by surprise
00:39and probably Hearts as well, particularly interest from Serie A
00:44there are not too many instances where you have Serie A clubs coming in
00:48to buy players from Hearts and clubs at that kind of level
00:54so from what we know, it's a good deal for Hearts
00:58they make a bit of a profit on Lugocchi
01:00signed him for a kind of moderate fee there last summer from Brentford
01:04he was pretty much a B team player there
01:06and he's played plenty of times for Hearts
01:07this season hasn't really cemented the right back or the centre-back role as his own
01:12you'd have to say
01:13but this is a good opportunity for him to go and play in the top flight in Italy
01:16and of course he'll be excited by it
01:18and Hearts get a little bit of profit and money back on him
01:20so yeah, it's a great deal
01:23and one that I think you could see more of those types of deals coming in the future
01:28with Jamestown Analytics at work
01:30Well, if you're watching this on Daily Motion or the Edinburgh Evening News website
01:35you can of course listen to the full Hearts Digest podcast
01:38that's available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify and most of our regular podcast platforms
01:45I want to just say Barry, if you're a Hearts fan
01:49are you overly disappointed about this deal?
01:51because I think Oyegoke is
01:53obviously he was 21 when he was brought in
01:55with a very good pedigree at youth level
01:58playing for England under 20s
02:00a couple of loan spells in the lower leagues
02:03like you say, he wasn't in the first team picture at all at Brentford
02:06but I think he was brought in probably as a project
02:10and someone that could develop into a real first team player at Hearts
02:14and then be sold for a significant profit
02:17but instead, he's seemingly going to be in and out the door
02:22on the way to Italy
02:24half a year into his contract
02:26it really is quite a surprising one
02:29I don't think there were too many fans disappointed by it
02:32I would expect that
02:34they'll view it pretty much the same way as the rest of us
02:37that he was somebody who
02:38he was a squad player at Hearts
02:40albeit he played a lot of first team games
02:41but he wasn't a first pick in any position
02:45having seen him play
02:46I think he's better suited to a centre-back role
02:49than a right-back role
02:50where a right-back you're expected to both attack and defend
02:53I think Oyegoke's attributes are suited better
02:56to just out and out defend
02:57in the old-fashioned
02:58win your tackles and your headers
03:00read the plays
03:01get a decent amount of pace
03:02can cover in behind
03:03that sort of thing
03:04but as we said
03:05it's one of those moves
03:07Hearts have got Gerald Taylor back fit again
03:10pushing for the right-back role
03:11Adam Forrester has done pretty well there overall
03:14you'd have to say
03:15in what is his breakthrough season
03:16he's obviously got improvement to do
03:18still just a young lad
03:19who's not long out of the B team
03:22so there's a couple of players there
03:24who can play a right-back
03:26none of them I would suggest are any worse than Oyegoke
03:29so I don't think there's any need to have three of them on the books
03:32there's obviously younger players
03:34that can push through from the B team etc
03:36so I think there's enough cover there at the minute
03:38to move Oyegoke on
03:40and take the offer that's on the table
03:43So you're saying you don't necessarily
03:45I mean we don't know
03:46but you don't think him leaving
03:48necessarily means that they'll now be scrambling
03:51to find a replacement in the next few days
03:53but of course with Jamestown Analytics
03:55they'll probably have a list of centre-back right-backs
03:58that they're aware of
03:59and that have been scouted already
04:00so maybe we might yet see them move for one of those
04:04I mean yeah football changes quickly
04:06Martin Lee's you know
04:07so anything's possible
04:09No I wouldn't expect another right-back
04:11coming in at heart before the window shuts
04:13I think that would be a surprise
04:15given what you know
04:16they've got two players there for that position
04:18in the first-team squad right now
04:20they've brought four in so far
04:23I think they would like a fifth
04:25but they're not going to go hell for leather
04:27and just be bringing people in for the sake of it
04:30it's one of those wait-and-see ones
04:32see what transpires the last few days of the winter
04:34there might still be one or two more outgoings
04:38in the next week or so
04:39before the window finishes
04:42so you know the last few days are always busy
04:44that's why there's the deadline day
04:46and all the excitement that that generates
04:48as a lot of football fans enjoy
04:50it's not great for us from a writing basis
04:52when you're trying to keep track of everything
04:54and record everything, report everything
04:56but there's worse things to do
05:00let's be honest
05:01it's one of those days
05:02that everybody tends to look forward to
05:04if you're a football fan
05:05I think we'll wait and see what transpires
05:07over the next few days
05:10From one player potentially going out
05:12to a player that did come in
05:13was Sander Carton's arrival has been confirmed
05:17a bit too early for him to be involved
05:19in the Kilmarnock game in any way
05:22but probably someone that we're expecting is
05:25I don't know, do you think Barry
05:27likely going to be slotting into that
05:29starting XI at the earliest opportunity?
05:32Yeah, I mean they brought
05:34Carton and Michael Steinwender in
05:37pretty much in the space of a few days
05:40and they clearly need time to
05:42just brush up on some sharpness and fitness
05:44because they finished their seasons
05:46over in Sweden and Norway respectively
05:49last year, the tail end of last year
05:51so with it for a good few weeks now
05:53they haven't been playing competitive football
05:56I mean Carton will
05:58I've got a piece going out on this later today
05:59so be careful what we say
06:02but Carton will provide
06:04something a little bit different
06:06for Hart's going forward
06:08he can play as a centre midfielder
06:09he can play out wide
06:11he can play in the number 10 role as well
06:14and he's got a good left foot on him
06:15passing is one of his best attributes
06:17and he's one of those creative passers
06:19most of the time he'll try to pass forward
06:21if he can, so
06:24I'm quite keen to see what he
06:26brings to the table
06:28and where he slots in
06:30and Steinwender's a straightforward
06:32right-sided centre-back
06:34who he'll be competing for that role with
06:36Frankie Kent, Craig Halka's got an injury
06:38I need to wait and see at the moment
06:39how severe that is
06:41maybe that'll accelerate Steinwender's
06:45arrival in the starting line-up
06:47who knows, I don't think Hart would want to take too much risk
06:49with Steinwender
06:51but if Halka's not there and you've got
06:53Frankie Kent's already injured
06:56your options are limited
06:58so you've got Lewis Nielsen
07:00and you've pretty much got no one else after that
07:02so we'll wait and see how quickly
07:04they can get Steinwender up to speed
07:07I'm interested to see where
07:09Khartoum slots into the Hearts team
07:11obviously you think, had Benny Beningame
07:13been a bit more consistent
07:15with his fitness
07:17and he's obviously had a lot of problems
07:19to his and Hart's detriment
07:21but the last few games
07:23him and Kami Devlin have sort of formed
07:25a partnership there and it's been working
07:27it looked for a while like Malakai Boateng
07:29and Beningame
07:31were going to form a decent partnership too
07:33but just Hearts haven't really had
07:35that settled central
07:37midfield at any
07:39point, I think earlier in the season
07:41Blair Spittle was sort of playing a bit
07:43deeper
07:45but I don't know, like you say
07:47obviously he can play as a centre mid
07:49or he could play out wide, do you think
07:51he maybe comes in and
07:53I was going to say displaces one of
07:55Beningame or Devlin
07:57but with all respect to Kami Devlin
07:59it's probably him if
08:01Benny Beningame is fit because we know how
08:03influential he is
08:05or do you think maybe they try and keep those two
08:07in the team and try and slot
08:09Khartoum in around them
08:11Yeah
08:13the latter of those options I would say is
08:15more likely, I think Khartoum
08:17will be seen as more of an attacking
08:19influence than a
08:21unorthodox centre
08:23I certainly don't expect him to be
08:25used as a holding midfielder, I think he'll be
08:27used as a number
08:29number 8
08:31somebody who can, I'm not going to say too much
08:33on this because we've got a piece going out on it
08:35and I don't want to give the game away
08:37somebody who can
08:39drift in from a wider area
08:41and get into the final
08:43third from there, I think that's probably the best
08:45way to put it. Well a couple of more
08:47interesting lines, you've obviously
08:49spoken to Xander Clark recently
08:51and he's been talking about
08:53obviously the speculation earlier
08:55in the transfer window that
08:57he would be leaving Hearts and potentially
08:59even going to Hibs, what's he been
09:01saying Barry?
09:03Yeah that was a piece
09:05that was actually in the Hearts programme at the
09:07weekend and Xander hadn't said too much about
09:09his
09:11contract extension
09:13so
09:15I just thought some of the stuff that he'd said
09:17was pretty interesting
09:19He's in a strange
09:21situation at Hearts at the end of the day because he's a very
09:23good goalkeeper, at most other clubs in
09:25Scotland he would be a number 1, Hearts have
09:27him at number 2 at the moment but there's not much
09:29between him and Craig Gordon right now
09:31and Gordon's a man in possession obviously
09:33and I think Xander
09:35will obviously see
09:37long term he must see himself as Hearts'
09:39first choice goalkeeper, whether that
09:41happens before Craig Gordon retires or not
09:43who knows
09:45we have to wait and see how that one
09:47pans out, I think given
09:49the interest from Hibs, Hearts have
09:51done well to keep him, particularly given
09:53that he's not played competitively since August
09:55so you could understand if Xander Clark had said
09:57no look I need to play and I want
09:59to play and I need to go somewhere else, be that Hibs
10:01or another team, but he's obviously
10:03felt it's
10:05the best option to stay on at Hearts
10:07fight for his place and I think that's one thing
10:09we should emphasise
10:11he should admire that about him
10:13that he hasn't just chucked the towel in
10:15on this and given up the ghost
10:17he's quite keen to
10:19give it everything he's got
10:21and make sure that he gets into
10:23the team at the earliest opportunity
10:25again I think
10:27he must have been given some kind of
10:29guarantee, not guarantee that's probably
10:31the wrong word, some kind of encouragement
10:33that he'll get an opportunity at
10:35Hearts between now and the end of the season
10:37so
10:39when and where that is
10:41who knows, just need to wait and see when
10:43there's an opening for him
10:45but understandably given their
10:47league position Hearts haven't been
10:49rushing to
10:51extend players
10:53contracts even though there are a few who are out of
10:55contracts at the end of the season
10:57but yeah with interest and around
10:59Xander Clark it makes
11:01sense that they'd want to tie him down but
11:03a player who has
11:05not had any sort of
11:07talks from the club yet
11:09as we found out at the weekend is
11:11George Grant
11:13what's happening there Barry?
11:15Not a lot
11:17I have to say Martin
11:19he's just got himself
11:21into the team the last few weeks
11:23contributed to some
11:25good results, he's
11:27played in central role
11:29wide in the right in the last couple of games
11:31and obviously
11:33scored what proved to be the winning goal
11:35at the weekend against Comanat with that header
11:37that I'm still not quite sure how it
11:39came about, how it actually
11:41how he got to, it's a poor bit of
11:43goalkeeping you have to say from Kieran O'Hara the
11:45keeper but fair play to George Grant
11:47he's got up off the deck and he's got his head on it
11:49and it's ended up in the net, that's all you can do
11:51as a player in that situation
11:53in terms of his contract
11:55it expires in the summer
11:57I will be surprised if
11:59he's offered an extension
12:01I think he's been here almost three years
12:03two and a half years and
12:05hasn't really
12:07properly commanded a place
12:09in the team, he's been in the team for little runs
12:11here and there and then out again
12:13probably
12:15not impacted enough games I would say
12:17to be
12:19kept on beyond that
12:21who knows, Harves might just offer him a new deal
12:23and he could be here for another year or two
12:25but at the moment I would suspect
12:27they will, with the influence
12:29of Jamestown Analytics, I would suspect they will
12:31have a list of players who can
12:33then step into that role
12:35that midfield, centre midfield
12:37attack, midfield role in the summer
12:39and provide more competition
12:43but I think
12:45probably with George Grant's concern
12:47he hasn't had his troubles to seek
12:49there's a few red cards in there that haven't helped him
12:51he spoke as well
12:53after the game on Saturday
12:55after he missed a penalty
12:57at Potaudry earlier in the month which would have won the game
12:59for Harves
13:01in that sense he's been depicted as the villain
13:03on certain occasions
13:05that probably hasn't helped him
13:07he's got a lot of ability, he's got all the tools
13:09maybe just the
13:11the kind of frenetic
13:13nature of the Scottish league hasn't suited him
13:15entirely
13:17at times he hasn't put that
13:19he's not been able to show all those attributes
13:21and properly take control of games
13:23as much as he's able to do
13:25it'll be interesting to see what happens
13:27between now and the end of the season
13:29but there's a few players
13:31out of contract at Harves in the summer
13:33he's certainly one of them
13:35no further talks as things stand