Jose Goncalves nears new deal with Hearts

The Portuguese defender still has several issues to conclude with the club before he will agree to sign, however yesterday's talks were encouraging for both parties and club officials are hopeful of completing a long-term deal for a player who is out of contract in June.

Goncalves' current deal is worth in excess of 10,000 per week before bonuses but he has been told by Jefferies he will not play for Hearts again unless he signs an extension. Talks between the pair have been ongoing ever since Jefferies replaced Csaba Laszlo last month, and gradual progress has been made towards agreeing terms.

Jefferies stated yesterday at his pre-match media conference ahead of tonight's visit to Celtic Park that Goncalves had been made a "fantastic offer" and that he would not relent on his stance of leaving the player out of the Hearts team. "I have tried to talk to Jose on a number of occasions and the club have made him an unbelievable offer," he said. "Even his agent (Darren Jackson] cannot believe that the player has decided not to sign.

"What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to play a player who has told me that he does not want to play for the club long-term, or should I play someone who is more committed to the club? If Jose walked into my office today and said, 'I will sign the contract', he would be in the team tomorrow. I want Jose to stay with Hearts and I will continue trying to get him to stay."

Jefferies added that he had yet to decide whether he wanted to keep other players out of contract in the summer, such as Christian Nade, Michael Stewart and Larry Kingston.

"I've still to decide on other players whether I want them to stay or not, so that's a separate issue," he said.