Craig Levein "hugely excited" about prospect of Hearts signing Japanese forward Ryotaro Meshino

Hearts manager Craig Levein is "hugely excited" about the prospect of signing Japanese forward Ryotaro Meshino on loan from Manchester City.

Hearts manager Craig Levein. Picture: SNS

Gamba Osaka announced they had agreed a deal to sell the 21-year-old to City last week and Hearts have been lined up to give him his first taste of British football.

Levein said: "We are working on that, we will have an idea of the hearing date for a special talent visa shortly. I'm hugely excited about this one, he is an extremely talented young boy.

"We have been talking to Manchester City about a few things recently and nearly did another bit of business a couple of weeks back. Being able to bring someone into the UK on loan to us gives the player an idea of the environment and maybe Manchester City will take him after that or maybe he will stay for another year, I don't know."