Obua wins work permit appeal

Hearts have made their first signing of the summer after winning a work permit appeal for highly-rated Uganda star David Obua.

The 24-year-old, who can play anywhere on the left- hand side, had initially been refused a work permit to join up with former international boss Csaba Laszlo at Tynecastle.

But an appeals panel which sat at Hampden Park on Wednesday, approved the work permit for the player, who has been capped over 20-times for Uganda and who had been attracting the interest of English Premiership side West Ham.

Apparently it took Csaba Laszlo 90 minutes to convince the people that he deserved one.

“Uganda are outside the required world ranking level but it does provide a useful indication of what a good player David is that the work permit review panel granted the permit,” said Hearts managing director Campbell Ogilvie.

“David is sure to be a valuable addition to Hearts even although he is still a young player he has achieved great success and is likely to impress our supporters.”

Obua joins the Scottish Premier League (SPL) on a free transfer after his contract with Kaizer Chiefs of South Africa ended on June 30.

Obua was Cranes top scorer in the 2008 African Cup of Nations qualifiers with five goals and was voted Chiefs best player in 2006.

Obua will fly out to Scotland today. He is likely to miss Hearts’ opening league match of the season at home to Motherwell.