Hearts have had a bid to sign goalkeeper Janos Balogh rejected by Hungarian side Debrecan.
Balogh has been on loan for most of this season and has done sufficiently well to merit making this move permanent in the eyes of manager Csaba Laszlo. However the club have apparently only offered £75,000 for the player, whereas his club would be looking for at least double that figure.
A spokesman for Debrecan said:
‘We made an agreement with Hearts on the transfer fee when the initial loan deal was signed, but now Hearts have changed their mind and want a big reduction on the agreed fee. If no deal is agreed, then he will be back at our club for training on Monday.’
To be honest if what this guy is saying here is true, then they are quite justified in telling Hearts to take a hike. We either want Balogh or we don’t, and if an amount was agreed back when the initial loan spell started, then that’s the amount we should pay. Of course, these things always require a bit of negotiation and all parties tend to try and maximise their returns by attempting cheeky tactics like this just to see if it gets them anywhere, but if Hearts do want Balogh then they should pay the agreed amount for him. If they don’t, then they should stick with either Jamie MacDonald or Marian Kello, who are already at the club.
Csaba had this to say about the situation:
‘It is not in my hands now. At the moment I try to do the best that I can and now the board must decide what happens.
‘Janos is a professional and I am sure that if he has to go back and his last game is against Kilmarnock, then he will still go out and do his best for the club.’
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It will be a shame if they can’t sort something out but I do think MacDonald and Kello would be adequate cover anyway. Balogh has been impressive imo but the defence seems to be clicking now and preventing the usual bombardment experienced last year. If the club can hold onto Berra then I reckon the other two keepers can do the job.
I am hoping that this rather mean bid for Balogh is a hard?nosed negotiating tactic rather than an indication that Hearts are not fussy about signing him. I have been reasonably impressed with Balogh thus far and think he has done enough to secure a transfer to Hearts. Kello seems a bit twitchy to me. If Balogh goes then I think I would rather see MacDonald as the preferred number one goalie.
The 75k bid is worth a try in these troubled times – Vlad’s a shrewd businessman, remember !!. I tend to agree with Dalien’s assessment that the defence is fairly tight, with 2 improving defensive midfielders in front of them, so the goalie isn’t being tested as much as he was 4 months ago. If we don’t sign Janos, it will be interesting to see who Csaba prefers – Kello or Jamie Mac.
Jamie is clearly going up the pecking order, since after Balogh’s injury on Saturday he came straight in as cover. I think Kello has completely lost confidence… not a good trait for a goalie, even though I rated him when he first arrived.