We’re being linked to Sander Kartum on loan from Hearts. Looks like a decent signing experience in the Norwegian top flight. Played a lot at CM but can play CAM too.
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Hearts transfer latest with Sander Kartum loan interest
Joel Sked
3–4 minutes
Hearts Standard has learned there has been contact regarding a possible loan deal with admirers in the A-League.
It is understood that New Zealand's Wellington Phoenix are keen on Kartum, but any deal can't be completed until the A-League's mid-season registration window opens on Wednesday, January 14.
In the A-League, teams are restricted to five visa slots for foreign players, but Kartum could be seen as a replacement for Hideki Ishige. Wellington's Japanese attacking midfielder was ruled out for the remainder of the season when he suffered a cruciate ligament tear in his knee in November.
Kartum, whose Hearts contract runs until the summer of 2027, arrived at Tynecastle Park 12 months ago from Norwegian outfit Brann for a six-figure deal.
He featured in 15 of 16 games in the second half of the campaign under Neil Critchley and then Liam Fox, scoring twice in a Scottish Cup win over Dundee, with the goals demonstrating his technical attributes.
Following the appointment of Derek McInnes as head coach and the arrivals of Oisin McEntee, Tomas Magnusson and Ageu, Kartum fell down the midfield pecking order at Hearts. He played twice in the League Cup group stages and has been on the bench on a handful of occasions.
The player recently returned to training after a hip issue.
"Sander Kartum has trained a couple of days, so hopefully there's no reaction to him, but in terms of the weekend, I'm not sure he'd be involved," McInnes said.
The club are looking to bring down the size of their squad this window and Kartum's possible departure could be followed by others. There is interest in Zander Clark, while others may see their future elsewhere as they look for game time.
Hearts continue to pursue Ugandan forward Rogers Mato after having their opening bid rejected.
While the player's club FK Vardar have stated he is not for sale, the Scottish Premiership league leaders are keen to bring the winger to add to the team's attacking options in the second half of the season.
McInnes confirmed the club are still looking at "one or two others things" with regard to additions, while noting the difficulty of getting "things over the line, particularly January".
"But again, it would be dependent, maybe, on a few moving out," he said.
"I've been a manager when I've been trying to get seven, eight signings in January and it's never a good thing. It means you've not done your work right in the summer and it's never easy to get good players in and make the difference.
"We’ve got a lot of what we're looking for for the second half of the season and can still be quite reactive. We've got plenty of games in January and you can pick up injuries. We're hoping that's not the case.
"With Jamestown and Graeme Jones, there's always a finger on the pulse with one or two things and that might still be something that we would maybe do, but there's nothing certain about that."
