Source: FOOTYMAD
Jefferies has decent budget to work with
New players can freshen up a side and Jim Jefferies has plans to get some new faces added to the Tynecastle squad Jim Jefferies is happy with what he has at his disposal in terms of recruitment budget ahead of the transfer window opening. Jefferies has been inundated with calls from agents and has been linked with having an interest in a host of players who will be out of contract at the end of the current season. These include Kilmarnock's Mehdi Taouil, Aberdeen's Zander Diamond, Inverness' Adam Rooney and John Sutton. Jefferies will have a good chance to see what the latter could offer at close range as he will be in the Motherwell side playing at Tynecastle on Saturday. Jefferies was not about to name names but is please with the support he is getting from Hearts' majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov. He said: "We can compete with anybody outside the Old Firm. If they halved it (the budget) it would be healthy, very healthy. If he (Romanov) wants to chuck more money at it, it gives me more to play with. There's no guarantee I'll get the ones I'm after, because there will be other clubs interested. I'm getting phone calls every hour about players. Hearts is a big club and a lot of players want to play here." Of course, Jefferies is used to working with restricted budgets from his time at Kilmarnock. Jefferies hopes to add to his squad and believes goalkeeper Marian Kello still has a future at Hearts despite not currently being considered for selection due to "a private matter". The Slovakia international will not be considered until the situation is resolved, something Jefferies hopes is imminent. He said: "I can't discuss an internal matter because there are legal things involved and it's not right to discuss it. It doesn't matter what anybody else says. Marian and I have discussed it and it's a decision we both came to." Jefferies is unfazed by his first-choice keeper's continued absence as Hearts seek to wrap up third place in the SPL. He went on: "We're very fortunate we've got Jamie MacDonald and Janos Balogh who are two exceptional goalkeepers so it's not disrupted us in any way."
