Hearts ‘agree transfer for Japanese Mbappe’ as Robbie Neilson plots January raid for Vissel Kobe striker Yutaro Oda

HEARTS have reportedly agreed a deal to sign Vissel Kobe star Yaturo Oda.

The Japanese striker is set to ‘be announced soon’ to add reinforcements to Robbie Neilson’s side.

1

The name Vissel Kobe may sound familiar to you.

That’s because that’s where Celtic have signed two players from in recent times.

Kyogo Furuhashi and Yuki Kobayashi have both made the switch from Kobe to Parkhead.

Most recently the Hoops raided the J-League club to bring highly-rated defender, Kobayashi, to Parkhead last month.

And now Hearts seem to be following that same blueprint.

Japanese sports publication, Hochi, claim that the Jambos have already agreed a deal for striker Yutaro Oda.

They say he is set to join up in January.

They said: “Yutaro Oda will be transferred to Scottish first division team Hearts.

“Officials say it is expected to be announced soon.”

But in their report they also chose to make an interesting comparison to the rumoured soon-to-be-Hearts man.

They likened the alleged Hearts target to France star Kylian Mbappe, fresh off his hat-trick in the World Cup Final.

They added: “Oda, who came from the junior organisation, is an attacker with a height of 181 centimetres and great speed. 

“During his youth days, when video footage of the Japan national teams by age group were uploaded to a video sites, he was described as ‘Japanese Mbappe’ because of his similar size and playing style to the French national team forward Mbappe.”

Robbie Neilson also confirmed that he is on the lookouot for reinforcements ahead of the game against Kilmarnock.

He said: “We don’t want to fully commit on one (player).

“We will add to the squad, but we’ll also move a few players on just to get the squad size down as well.”

Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page