Hearts may have lost out on European football for next season but they look to be in the lead to get Laryea Kingston's signature on a contract despite the play claiming he already has other offers on the table. Kingston has had a successful, if controversial, six-month loan spell from Russian club Terek Grozny and heats want the deal to be made permanent. The Ghana midfielder ignored an ankle injury to play through the pain barrier in Hearts' final game of the season at Kilmarnock yesterday. Despite losing 1-0 defeat at Rugby Park, Kingston expects to be pulling on a Hearts strip again. His agent is in talks with majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov about an extended deal.
Kingston said: "For now, I'm very happy with Hearts. My agent is in talks with the president of Hearts and everything is moving positively. I'm happy to be with them and my family is happy to be in Edinburgh. Now I'm going back home to rest and then I will see what happens. Some opportunities are in the pipeline but Hearts are my first choice. I have one month's holiday and I told them to give me some time, at least two weeks, to rest my mind. I'm very tired. I've been working all year both with my national team and at club level and I need some rest. I also got injured in the last game but I played in this game because I wanted to represent the team and I know that my team needs me. I had to take the risk to play for the team."
Steven Naismith broke the Tynecastle players' hearts with the decisive goal from the penalty spot to ensure victory for Kilmarnock. Hearts had to win to keep their slim hopes of European football alive. However, Aberdeen did what they had to do to make the result at Rugby Park meaningless anyway by recording a 2-0 win over Rangers. They now have the prospect of a place in the UEFA Cup to look forward to next season. Kingston said: "That's my aim, my aim is to play in European games and advertise myself more to Europeans. But all is not lost. I'm looking forward to next season and it looks positive I will be staying. We are all disappointed about the result, even though Aberdeen won against Rangers. It was still important for us to get a win for the end of the season. We are disappointed we didn't do that."
Kingston has already established himself as a firm favourite with the fans and assistant coach Stevie Frail hopes the reception he - and the rest of the players - received yesterday will convince him to continue his career in Gorgie. Frail said: "He will hopefully want to play in this environment after seeing the way our fans were at the end of the game. I know they came here hoping for us to finish third in the league but they gave the players a great reception. Hopefully he will see how big a club we are and will want to stay a part of it."
