Hearts' Jose Goncalves ready to decide on future

JOSE GONCALVES will inform Hearts within 24 hours whether he intends to sign the new two-and-a-half-year contract offered to him by the club hierarchy.

Manager Jim Jefferies remains hopeful that the Portuguese defender, out of contract in June, will extend his stay at Tynecastle and has been promised a definitive answer tomorrow. The pair have been involved in on-going discussions about the issue since Jefferies replaced Csaba Laszlo last month.

Goncalves has been told he will not play for Hearts again unless the new deal is signed but discussions this week have been encouraging.

"I've been working very hard to get it resolved," said Jefferies today. "I'm trying to understand why he's not signing. He's the one putting himself out of the team. It looks to me like he's giving us the vibes he doesn't want to play for this club. I'm trying to convince him to play. I want him, the club wants him and what happened in the past has happened. We are starting afresh now.

He said he'll decide by Friday so we'll know on Friday."