Jankauskas Leaves Hearts

Former Hearts head coach Valdas Ivanauskas has confirmed that striker Edgaras Jankauskas will not be returning to Hearts.

Ivanauskas still works for Romanov in one of those ‘Director of….’ type roles despite having been relieved of his coaching duties at both Kaunas and Hearts in fairly recent times. Of Jankauskas, he said:

‘Edgaras is free now. He is a big player and we will talk with him next week. I don’t think he will go back to Hearts, but he still has a big future. He is a high-profile player and for him it’s very important to be without injuries for the new season.’

Whenever I think about Jankauskas I can’t help but think about what might have been. There is absolutely no doubt that technically, he’s one of the best centre-forwards I’ve ever seen playing for
Hearts and when he was on-form, he could be truly outstanding. His holding up of the ball was probably the best I’ve ever seen in the SPL, from anyone. Sadly though, these performances were few and far between and, hindered by a series of injuries, Jankauskas’ Hearts career was ultimately one of mediocrity. In fact for some, he was simply a lazy, overpaid mercenary for which his absence the club will be better off. I wouldn’t go quite as far as that, but he certainly did appear to be going through the motions at times and for someone earning the sort of money that he was reportedly on (around £10K per week), that simply wasn’t good enough.

Jankauskas, who used to play for Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto, is rumoured to be interesting some clubs in La Liga. However if this does not materialise, he also has the option to play for either FBK Kaunas or MTZ Ripo, both clubs of which are financed by Romanov’s Ukio Bankas Investment Group.