The Daily Record reports that Hearts will look to move formerly Rangers linked striker Uche Ikpeazu on as soon as the summer transfer window opens, in order to ease financial woes.
The Edinburgh club announced drastic cost-cutting plans on Wednesday evening, with the owner, Ann Budge, detailing in a statement that all staff, including the first-team players and management, had been asked to take indefinite 50% pay cuts.
The move was a stark reminder of the difficulties likely to be faced for many clubs over the coming months, especially if the 2019/20 season is unable to restart.
If they safely make it through to the opening of the transfer window in June, some side will need to offload players and it’s suggested that Ikpeazu and midfielder, Loic Damour, will be the first to go at Tynecastle.
Back in April 2019, both Rangers and Celtic were linked with the 6ft 3″ frontman [Scottish Sun].
At that stage, with Kyle Lafferty well down the pecking order, it was felt that the Gers lacked a suitable targetman-type player, and it was suggested that Ikpeazu could fill that void.
The links were no doubt prompted by a brief purple patch from the striker, though, and always seemed a little far-fetched, with comments made by Steven Gerrard at the time suggesting there wasn’t much to them [Rangers TV].
One thing that’s near-certain, given the 25-year-old’s form this season, is that the Gers won’t be launching a summer move.
Ikpeazu has struggled for game time since the appointment of Daniel Stendel but has still racked up 29 appearances across the campaign, scoring only twice.
His last goal came way back in September away at Hibernian, so while Hearts will want to receive a fee for the player, it looks unlikely to be a substantial one.
