Hearts are closing in on the signing of a Costa Rican footballer

Hearts are closing in on the signing of a Costa Rican footballer

Who is Gerald Taylor? The lowdown on Hearts signing target

Gerald Taylor has had an exceptionally quick rise to the top level in Costa Rica. From a member of the youth team of a mid-table second-tier club to full international and starting right back for the most successful club in the nation’s history in under two years.

His next step, after the Copa America, could be Tynecastle Park with Heart of Midlothian close to sealing a deal that would bring him to Gorgie.

 

The 23-year-old initially joined Saprissa’s Under-20 team from Cariari Pococi in January 2021 before being quickly promoted to the first team. He made his debut against a Herediano side featuring a certain Kenneth Vargas. With Vargas in attack and Taylor in defence they came up against each other directly.

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Since then, he has been ever-present in the Saprissa side, featuring 113 times for the club. The Costa Rican has experience at the international level for both club and country, featuring five times for the national side and 11 times for his club across the CONCACAF Champions Cup and Central American Cup. For someone of his age, it would only be fair to class him as very experienced.

Taylor stands 6ft tall and has a physical presence. He likes to go into tackles hard and appears to be fantastic at timing his tackles. He’s involved in the sixth most defensive duels of all right backs in the league, around 8.8 per game, and has the second-highest win percentage, around 68 per cent. Encouragingly he is strong in the air, especially for a full-back. Although not involved in a lot of aerial duels, he manages to win a high percentage of them, leaving him in the 60th percentile for all full-backs in the league.