There is a chance Michael Ngoo's perception of Hearts could become skewed.
The callow Liverpool striker has agreed a loan move to the Edinburgh side until the end of the season, just in time to find himself in the squad for a Scottish Communities League Cup semi-final with Inverness Caledonian Thistle today. The latter stages of cups always serve to ramp up the atmosphere and Hearts supporters will be revelling in their day since their side are playing across town at Easter Road.
It is an occasion which will register with Ngoo as he was at Anfield earlier in the season when Hearts faced Liverpool in a Europa League tie. The echoes of the fervent cheers from the travelling fans after David Templeton gave the hosts a bloody nose in a 2-1 defeat still ring in the ears of a young striker who moved to Merseyside in a £250,000 deal from Southend United in 2009. Goodness knows what he will think when his new side get back to the nitty-gritty of a league campaign that has seldom been as colourful.
"Hearts are a big club," said Ngoo, who joins Anfield team-mate Danny Wilson in moving to Tynecastle. "I like how they had a passion against Liverpool so it was a no-brainer for me to come here. I was at the game at Anfield and I thought the passion of the boys was fantastic, and to be a part of that would be very good. I had a few offers in England but I also spoke to Danny and he said it was very good up here and the level was very good.
"I'm very pleased to be at such a big club, the oldest club as well in Edinburgh. I've done a bit of research on Hearts and I know they beat Hibs 5-1 in the Scottish Cup final . . ."
That reference should earn him popularity when Hearts return to cup duty today. He is just 20 but is highly thought of in England – having been tracked by Manchester United before giving in to the advances of Liverpool. At 6ft 5in, the striker also offers another dimension to the Tynecastle attack.
"They are fantastic players at Liverpool and you learn from them," said Ngoo. "You try to bring it into your game. I want to keep on developing. I think once I hit my peak I will be up there. I'm strong, aggressive, run in behind and I am a threat to goal. I am delighted to here to show everyone what I can do."
Ngoo is unlikely to have to wait too long since Callum Paterson – a prominent player for Hearts this season – will miss at least two months with a foot injury. The youngster has suffered a muscle tear while training this week.
The arrival of Ngoo is timely, then. "The English under-21 teams didn't have much of a break over Christmas and New Year so he's been playing and he's match fit and raring to go," said John McGlynn, the Hearts manager.
"I don't want to put too much pressure on him, it's not fair to think that he's going to batter every ball that comes into the box into the back of the net. However, we hope that he's going to improve our goal scoring tally. He's going to give us a few different options. Hopefully make an impact."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article