Striker Toto's Hearts move scuppered by £300k price tag

HEARTS avoided a potential £300,000 compensation claim by deciding against signing the Cameroonian striker Jonathan Toto. However, the Edinburgh club will have first refusal on the player in January provided background checks prove he is a free agent.

Toto joined First Division Morton as an amateur last month whilst his representatives attempt to verify his career history and prove to Hearts that he will not cost a fee. Both parties have a verbal agreement to convene again when the transfer window opens and the situation becomes clearer.

Officially, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) are entitled to compensation of around 300,000 from any club which signs 20-year-old Toto on a professional contract. He played in Italy with youth clubs and the now-defunct fourth division club AC Legnano, whose financial problems forced their closure earlier this year. The FIGC are permitted to claim compensation on behalf of any member club, bankrupt or not, and attempts by Toto's representatives to obtain written assurance from Italy that remuneration will not be sought have proved fruitless.

FIFA rules dictate that up to 60,000 (52,500) compensation is due per year of a player's development. Presently, there are six years of Toto's career, between the ages of 12 and 18, for which clearance has not been obtained. That would mean any club signing the player would risk triggering the substantial claim.

Two months on trial at Riccarton during the summer prompted widespread intrigue about Toto's prospects, especially after an encouraging performance in a pre-season friendly with Blackburn Rovers and six goals in three outings against non-league opposition. He was unknown prior to arriving in Edinburgh but, for now, Hearts are wisely waiting for further developments from investigations into the player's history before deciding whether he is worth pursuing.

Aside from his time in Italy, Toto was also contracted as a youth player with Metz in France and spent a year in his native Cameroon with the First Division club Canon de Yaound. The player's agents have received documents from both countries waiving the right to compensation, with his time in Italy the major stumbling block.

Toto hopes to have his background verified by the time his amateur contract ends with Morton in January. In the meantime, he will endeavour to impress Hearts from afar in Inverclyde. "It's a good opportunity to show what I can do in the First Division," he told the Evening News. "It's a chance for me to help Morton and to help myself. I can show what I can do any make a lot of people talk about me.

"I went to Hearts for a short trial but it wasn't a short trial. They wanted to know about my background. Maybe in France it would be easier because they know me in France but in Scotland no-one knows me. I just want to prove I can play here. I think I have done well, hopefully something will happen after this.

"The problem is with the compensation. The compensation is from the Italian league but the club knows my background. Maybe it's too much money, I don't know. We were just waiting for clearance from the Italian federation because Legnano is bankrupt, but they never came back with an answer. We had to wait too long.

"It's difficult for me to explain the situation in Cameroon. I went there to keep my fitness up. When I came for a trial to Hearts, everything was okay like I expected. Hearts did not know anything about me. My manager went to Hearts with an idea to find me a good team in Scotland. I am a typical type of what you might call an Anglo-Saxon player. That is my kind of game."

Toto's agent Jake Duncan first offered the player to Hearts, acting on a tip-off from the former Cameroon international striker Alain Amougou. "He spotted the player and said, 'I think this boy could do a job'," recalled Duncan. "We put a proposal to Hearts and we didn't get the okay on it quick enough.

"Allan Moore, the Morton manager, said he wanted to sign Jonathan so we signed a short-term deal. I went back in and saw Jim Jefferies and Billy Brown and we shook hands on the fact that, if things go well, Hearts will get first refusal. He wouldn't be at Morton if he hadn't been at Hearts. We owe Hearts to go back in January and speak to them."

Duncan's proposal was initially put to Jefferies and then passed on to Vladimir Romanov, Hearts' majority shareholder, and the investigation into Toto's history then began. "There are a couple of small clubs Jonathan was with as a youngster and, although we had verbal assurance that there would be no compensation claim, we didn't get anything in writing. Hearts, quite rightly, said we have to be really careful here," said Duncan. "We have a letter from Metz waiving compensation. We have a letter from his Cameroon club waiving compensation.

"That still leaves around about six years of his career where we don't have compensation waived. By FIFA rules, that could mean up to 60,000 of compensation per year (of his development).

"So Hearts could technically be facing anything between 300,000 to 350,000. That has scuppered the prospect of doing anything."