COMPUTER SAYS YES TO GERMAN TARGET

HEARTS are in talks to sign Soufiane El-Faouzi after the midfielder ranked high on their Jamestown Analytics recruitment software.

- Scott Burns

The 22-year-old German, left, plays for third-tier minnows Alemannia Aachen in his homeland and is one of the names that has been put forward to new manager Derek McInnes.

The Jambos have exclusive use of Jamestown's player data services in Scottish football thanks to their partnership with investor Tony Bloom, who owns the company.

El-Faouzi still has a year left on his contract and can play in central midfield or as an attacking playmaker. He made the switch from Fortuna Dusseldorf's reserve team to Alemannia last summer and has four goals and 10 assists from 41 appearances this season.

The Jambos have already been active this summer, signing Norwegian right-back Christian Borchgrevink from Valerenga and Greek winger Alexandros Kyziridis from Slovakian side Zemplin Michalovce.