Hearts close in on Kyle Lafferty as Hibs declare interest

Hearts want former Norwich striker Kyle Lafferty to lead their attack next season

The Northern Irish striker returned to Edinburgh yesterday for more signing talks with Hearts as he continues to ponder his next move.

He spent a day with club officials last week along with his Scottish wife, Vanessa. But the 29-year-old, out of contract after being released by Norwich City, is thinking carefully where to seek to re-ignite his club career following interest from Hibs, managed by compatriot Neil Lennon.

Lennon also made moves to sign the striker, then out of favour at Norwich City, when he was manager at Bolton Wanderers in late 2015.

Although Lafferty has endured a disappointing club career in recent times he has continued to prove his worth with the Northern Ireland international side, whose Edinburgh-based manager Michael O’Neill would welcome the player settling at either top-flight capital club.

But Hearts, where O’Neill’s No 2 Austin MacPhee is assistant manager, are believed to be currently leading the chase. MacPhee has been heavily involved in discussions to bring Lafferty back to Scotland, where the striker enjoyed a four-year spell with Rangers.

He then moved on to Sion and then Palermo before signing a three-year deal with Norwich City, where he failed to establish himself. He spent further spells on loan at Turkish side Caykur Rizespor and Birmingham City.

One of Lafferty’s Northern Ireland team-mates joined him in Edinburgh yesterday. Michael Smith, a right-back, is edging closer to a move to Hearts after being shown around the club’s training facilities yesterday afternoon.

Smith has played once for the Northern Ireland international side and has been with Peterborough United since 2014, making 133 appearances for the club.

Hearts head coach Ian Cathro is looking to replace Callum Paterson, who joined Cardiff City earlier this summer.

But, despite Smith having fallen out of favour at Peterborough, Hearts would be expected to pay a fee for the 28-year-old, who signed a new three-year deal as recently as last summer.

Cathro also looks to have solved his left-back problem with Manchester City defender Ashley Smith-Brown set to arrive at Hearts later this week.

The 21-year-old, who spent last season on loan at Dutch club NAC Breda, will join up with his new team-mates at Riccarton once contractual formalities are completed.

He is expected to be in the squad that travels to Ireland next week for games against St Patrick’s Athletic and Linfield. Hearts begin their pre-season friendly schedule this week with an away fixture against

Livingston.

Meanwhile, Alan Burrows, Motherwell’s chief operating officer and director, took to Twitter yesterday to debunk a report that claimed Hearts had made an improved bid of £300,000 for midfielder Chris Cadden. Burrows tweeted: “Don’t normally do this, but there’s a story online today that the club has received an improved offer for Chris Cadden today. We haven’t. I said a few weeks ago that we wouldn’t sell players at less than fair value, and that’s absolutely true of everyone we have contracted. Yes, we are a club who has a model that involves recruiting, developing and selling, but only when the value is correct to everyone.”

Cadden, 20, has a contract at Fir Park until the end of May 2019. He has been capped twice by Scotland under-21s, and the Steelmen are believed to want around £500,000 for their youth product.