FC Tobol have accused Hearts of trying to land Kazakhstan star Islam Chesnokov on the cheap after as their Sporting Director claimed if the Jambos meet their asking price, they’ll take the player to Scotland themselves.
Boss Neil Critchley urged caution this week by stating the deal wasn’t close to being completed yet after the Tynecastle side were linked with the 25-year-old wide man, with talks haven taken place over potentially bringing him to Gorgie. But his club in Kazakhstan have broken their silence on the move and are less than impressed with the approach taken by the capital club.
The club’s sporting director, Sanzhar Seitkazinov, said: “Hearts wants Chesnokov almost for free. We consider this unacceptable. Islam is a quality Kazakhstan footballer, whom the club will not be able to replace with another Kazakhstan player. If he leaves, this position will be taken by a foreign player. We do not have a Kazakhstan player in a similar position who would not be inferior to Islam in quality.
“Giving him away for free is wrong, because the club invested in his development. We asked Hearts to come back with another offer, if possible.
“The club’s position is this – if we were really offered the £500,000 that has been reported, we would have taken him to Scotland ourselves! We do not want to hinder Islam’s career. But he also has solid offers from clubs in Russia too. However, the wish of Islam is to try himself in Europe rather than Russia. We are not asking for fabulous money.”