Hearts: SFA is called in to help with Jonathan Toto background checks

Hearts have enlisted the help of the Scottish Football Association as they attempt to verify the complete background of their Cameroonian trialist Jonathan Toto.

Officials at Tynecastle have contacted the SFA for assistance in securing international clearance for Toto, the 20-year-old forward who has been on trial at Riccarton for the last six weeks. Having obtained clearance from Toto's previous clubs in France and Cameroon, Hearts must secure similar documentation from Italy, where he played with the now-defunct fourth division club AC Legnano.

The player's registration automatically transferred to the Italian Football Federation when the Tuscan club Legnano went bankrupt earlier this year, and Hearts have asked the SFA to request that the relevant papers are transferred to Scotland.

They will then proceed with contract talks, although manager Jim Jefferies refused to go into details about his plans for Toto.

"He's been training fine, he's played closed-door games and done reasonably well so we know what we're going to do with him. But we can't do it till we get all the paperwork," said Jefferies.

"We have documents from Cameroon and France, but the one area we're waiting on is Italy. We've asked the SFA to deal with the Italian federation because the club he played for in Italy are now defunct so his registration automatically moved to the Italian FA. That's the bit we're waiting on.

"You can find in those situations that you get hit with a compensation claim so we've asked the SFA to help us. We want to make sure no-one has any ties to him before we crash on with what we're going to do."

One option Hearts will consider is whether to sign Toto and farm him out on loan to a lower division club. This approach proved successful in the past with several youth academy pupils and would help the player adjust to the rigours of Scottish football in a less demanding environment.

Meanwhile, Hearts reported positive feedback following a meeting of European football's top brass in Switzerland earlier this week.

The Edinburgh club are one of 197 members of the European Club Association (ECA] and sent marketing and communications director David Southern to the convention in Geneva.

One of the key points discussed was compensation for players injured on international duty, such as Hearts defender Lee Wallace. "Hearts will be a beneficiary in this case," said Southern in praise of the Scottish FA for signing up to the insurance protocol.