Caley’s Black Signs For Hearts

Inverness Caley Thistle’s Ian Black has signed a pre-contract agreement with Hearts that will see him join up with the Tynecastle club at the end of this season.

It had previously been unclear as to whether or not Hearts would be shelling out a nominal fee to allow Black to play for them in January, but it’s now been confirmed that it will be in the summer that he comes to Tynecastle, and that no transfer fee will be required.

Black is a Hearts supporter and this move is clearly one that excites him, as his comments to the official website would testify. He said:

‘I am naturally delighted to be joining Hearts.

‘My main focus will be working hard to establish myself in Hearts’ midfield.

‘I have spoken to Csaba Laszlo and I am looking forward to the future.

‘I have enjoyed every minute of the time I’ve had up here with Inverness. There are people behind the scenes that have looked after me very well and I’ve learned a lot.

‘But the Hearts chance is one in a million, a great opportunity – one that I could not knock back.’

Certainly encouraging words and it’s nice that the club have signed a player who genuinely wants to play for them for the right reasons for a change, but I suppose the question is ‘will be good enough’? And where will he fit into our midfield in the summer? I suppose there’s every chance that the personnel in there could be entirely different by the time that Black joins up at Tynecastle, so we do have to hope that he can be of the required standard to improve the team.

Csaba Laszlo certainly seems to believe that he’s acquired a good player:

‘Ian is an excellent example of our aim to bring the best young Scottish players to Hearts in order that both the club and the players will grow,’ said the Hearts manager.

‘We will continue to identify and assess young Scottish players and we will target those that are keen to truly develop their full potential.

‘Hearts will be a club that will deliver real rewards for the best young players in the country.

‘As can be seen by the wealth of interest in some of our current home-developed players, we’re a club that will allow young Scottish players to flourish, providing their attitude and ambition matches that of this club.’

I really haven’t seen enough of Black to make any judgements about him right now, but he does sound as though he’s the sort of signing that Hearts should be looking to make i.e. a young Scottish player with the right attitude and the potential to make them a profit if he develops over the next few years. Good luck to him when he arrives in the summer – I’m sure he’ll have everyone’s full support.