Hearts send Ageu to Portugal - plus updates on Beni Baningime and Calem Nieuwenhof
Brazilian midfielder is receiving treatment for his hamstring injury
Record Hearts signing Eduardo Ageu has flown to Portugal for medical treatment on his hamstring injury. Staff at the Portuguese Football Federation are working with the Brazilian midfielder as he aims to regain fitness and return to action next month.
Ageu suffered a hamstring injury on his Hearts debut at Livingston in August, and a different injury surfaced last month during training. He was ruled out for around six weeks and is spending the first three of those in Portugal, where he played with Santa Clara before a £1.7m transfer to Scotland.
“Ageu is in Portugal,” confirmed the Hearts head coach, Derek McInnes. “He's at the Portuguese FA doing his first three weeks of rehab, so we're in communication with the medical team there. It was something we discussed and we've seen a lot of benefits from that, both from a mental point of view but also from a care point of view. Hopefully, we can just get that treatment that he's needing at the minute and he'll come back with us the week before Christmas. I think he's progressing well on that side.”
Fellow midfielders Beni Baningime and Calem Nieuwenhof are both nearing full fitness after their own respective hamstring problems. Baningime hasn’t played since 1 November, while Nieuwenhof was last seen in a competitive game on 23 July. They won’t be available for Hearts against Falkirk on Saturday but have an outside chance of returning against Rangers at Tynecastle a week on Sunday.
“Beni had a wee bit of a bug over the weekend, so he missed a physio session on Saturday but he was back in right as rain again on Monday,” explained McInnes. “He has been back on the pitch with Nieuwenhof in terms of running. Beni and Calem have been picking up their work and hopefully both of them can get back into training at some point next week. Certainly, the hope is that both could get some good work in before the Rangers game.”
“That's what we'd hope for. I think they probably couldn't do with any setbacks either, the two of them. If they have a day where they've just maybe pushed a bit too much and then they have to come off it, they might be touch-and-go. If they are ticking the boxes, as we expect, then they should be hopefully back training with us next week at some point.”
The Burkina Faso internationalist Landry Kabore will leave Hearts after Saturday’s game to join up with his country for the African Cup of Nations. He is expected to miss a minimum of three club matches - Rangers at Tynecastle on 21 December, Hibs at Easter Road on 27 December, and Livingston at Tynecastle on 3 January.
Burkina Faso have a reasonable chance of reaching the AFCON knockout phase, which would mean Hearts waiting longer for Kabore’s return. In Group E, Burkina Faso face Equatorial Guinea on 24 December, Algeria on 28 December and Sudan on 31 December. Last-16 ties are spread across 3, 4 , 5 and 6 January. Quarter-finals are on 9 and 10 January, semi-finals on 14 January, with the final on 18 January.
“I think sometimes we're a bit guilty of maybe underestimating the African nations,” opined McInnes. “I'm certainly aware that the AFCON is a huge deal for boys like Kabore and it's great for their profile, great experience from that big tournament environment. He was over the moon to be called up so we obviously wish him well. It's a wee bit tough because you want him to do well with his country, but you don't want his country to do too well because then he's away longer.
“At the minute, we'll miss him for three games - Rangers, Hibs and Livingston. There's an opportunity maybe for him to be back after that, but I think it's brilliant for him. There's going to be a lot of talented players, a lot of class players, well-known players, involved in the tournament. Hopefully he can go and make his mark, as he's done certainly in the last couple of games with his country [scoring back-to-back hat-tricks].
“I think you see how proud he is with his celebrations for his country and he came back elated. So it's a bit of mixed feelings for us because you like your players to go in, make that impact and have that success. Playing for your country is so important for so many players, but Kabore absolutely thrives on it.”
Kabore’s absence could mean more opportunities in the Hearts team for fellow strikers Elton Kabangu and James Wilson. “Obviously, I normally go with two strikers starting,” said McInnes. “I normally go with two on the bench and James, at times this season, he's been on the outside of that, which is tough. He's had a wee bit of a bug this week but he's still come in and trained, and fair play to him for that. Good on him.
“It's like everything. When players aren't available, you've got a squad for a reason. We would obviously like Kabore still with us to help get through those festive fixtures but, by the same token, we take comfort from what we've got in the building as well.”
Hearts face a relatively straightforward December after bringing the Falkirk match forward from the end of the month. “I've been involved with clubs when sometimes it's eight or nine games in December. It's actually not too bad this time,” said McInnes. “Because of that 30 December fixture being moved to this weekend, then it's actually quite steady. It's quite a normal December for us in terms of preparation, but it is an important time.
“Christmas is for everybody else. It's not really for professional footballers. You've got to have that focus. People shut down. People come along to these games over this period. They want to be entertained, it's for families and everyone else. But for players, it's such an important period. I think if you can come through that and really commit to it and be really focused on it, then you can get the benefit of that.
“Ideally, you want to be as strong as possible going into these games but we've got some exciting games. Obviously, Falkirk is sold out again from our point of view and live on TV. Then you've got the Rangers game - live, sellout. Hibs - live, sellout. So there's a lot on these games. They are exciting games and easy to get up for. As the season goes on, we just want each game to be bigger than the next one and hopefully we deal with that.”