Jim Jefferies hints at move for Kevin Kyle but Jose Goncalves could exit

Published on Saturday 30 January 2010 21:22

JIM JEFFERIES has not ruled out adding to his squad before the close of the transfer window at midnight on Monday, with Kevin Kyle high on his list of targets.

The new Hearts manager, who has signed a contract until 2013, is intent on bringing in his assistant Billy Brown on a long-term contract, as well as enlisting the services of Gary Locke as first-team coach, but he says there is also a desire to strengthen his squad and has not ruled out trying to sign up the Kilmarnock striker.

"I have had discussions about (new signings] and we will try, but it's not going to be easy because you have to get people who you want and they have to be available, but if we can get them before the transfer window then great. But we do know the two areas that I think we need to look at and the kind of players that Hearts have not got.

"I would like to get another striker because the young boys we have can't play all the time. They will become good players, these young boys, but you have to bleed them in and bring them through gradually and it would be nice to have a natural goal scorer about the place."

Hearts' top-scoring striker this season is Christian Nade, with two goals, and that is not the kind of return Jefferies plans to settle for as he seeks to enforce a more expansive footballing philosophy than that of his predecessor, Csaba Laszlo.

He said there were different targets in mind, and acknowledged that Scotland international Kyle is one of them. "They will all be mentioned and the fact that Kevin is out of contract (at the end of the season] and I brought him (to Kilmarnock] and I get on great with him, he is the obvious one, but I will have to sit down and find out who is available.

"Kevin might not be available before Monday because he has, by all accounts, committed himself to Kilmarnock until the end of the season and that's a long, long time away."

Forced to select players for yesterday's game who he knew little about, he says he will have a better idea of the right balance and personnel for Tuesday's Co-operative Insurance Cup semi-final against St Mirren at Fir Park and hopes to have Jose Goncalves back in contention. The Portuguese defender has been a stand-out for the Tynecastle side this season but was left out of the side yesterday due to uncertainty about his future.

"He has been in discussions with the club and I think he thinks he might be on the move in the January window," said Jefferies. "There are only a couple of days to go, so I just felt that when people have that kind of thing in their mind then I would just wait and see, but the club want him to stay and I want him to stay. If he is on the move it will be in next 24/48 hours, but if it (the transfer window] closes and he is still at the club then he will come back into contention, possibly even for Tuesday."