Hearts pursuit of Sammy Silvera - 'concrete offers', competition, tipped for transfer in the next week

Hearts will have to up their bid to land Australian winger Sammy Silvera with the player’s club having received “several concrete offers”.

It is understood Central Coast Mariners have rejected offers from the Tynecastle Park club as well as English side Plymouth Argyle. There is also significant interest from Asia as well as Middlesbrough. The London-born forward helped the side win the A-League Grand Final this season, scoring eight goals in 29 games.

Silvera has two years left on his deal with the Mariners who are not in a position where they are desperate to sell having already lost top scorer Jason Cummings to Indian Super League outfit Mohun Bagan Super Giant. They have also raked in a reported $2million for defender Jordan Bos who has moved to Belgium.

Hearts see the 22-year-old as a key target but won’t pay over the odds. According to Aussie outlet FTBL, he could be sold within the next week but Mariners owner Richard Peil revealed the current state of play as he explained why the player may benefit from another year at the club having already been on the books of Portuguese side Paços de Ferreira.

"There has been a lot of interest in Sammy - and justifiably so - from multiple clubs in both the UK and Asia. There have been several concrete offers to go along with that but nothing has been decided yet,” he said.

“Personal success gets players noticed and Sammy deserves the attention, and as a club we’re not surprised either. His class was there for all to see at the back end of the season, and of course in the grand final, and it’s no shock that the phone has been ringing off the hook to ask about him.

“We are not in the business of standing in the way of players if they really want to go elsewhere to help their career. However, I genuinely feel Sammy would benefit greatly from another year in the A-League. There’s a fine line there sometimes. He’s been overseas before and returned home to kick start things again.

"He knows he’s going to play regularly here where he would benefit greatly from another year under the guidance of Monty (Nick Montgomery) and Serg (Sérgio Raimundo).”