"HE HAS the potential to be as big as Michael Essien or any other African player you can think of." Says it all, really. Larry Kingston's aptitude is encapsulated in a single sentence from Ghana's greatest-ever footballer, Abedi Pele. It must be hoped Vladimir Romanov concurs and allows his heart to rule his business head this summer.

Resisting a quick profit on the new signing, who has English Premiership suitors in Bolton Wanderers and Newcastle United, could make Hearts' year before a pre-season ball has even been kicked. At Chechen club Terek Grozny he was a virtual nobody, but a rapid ascent during loan spells at Dinamo Moscow and Tynecastle raised Kingston's profile alongside his Ghanaian international colleague.

Comparisons between Kingston and Essien are commonplace in their homeland, where both are revered as national icons.

Pele, Ghana's most prolific goalscorer, marvels at the influence both have when representing the Black Stars. But there is one less-than-subtle difference in their histories. Whereas Essien cost Roman Abramovich £24.4million to prise from Lyon two years ago, Romanov grabbed just 500,000 notes from his Ukio Bankas vault on Wednesday to buy Kingston.

The word "bargain" springs instantly to mind. However, that eye for a swift and profitable deal, coupled with interest from the Premiership, has raised suspicions that Romanov could simply sign and sell Kingston as he did with Czech midfielder Rudi Skacel. Pele reasons that allowing his compatriot to leave Edinburgh at the moment would be a mistake, both for the player and Hearts.

Supporters are also intent on witnessing a Kingston-driven team at Tynecastle next season. His impact since arriving on an initial six-month loan from Terek in January has been as explosive as anything detonated in Grozny during recent conflicts, exemplified by one goal and seven assists in 11 outings so far. Take Essien's influence and assuredness, add a touch of attacking flair and craft, and the result is what Kingston has produced in Scotland.

Having assumed the midfield mantle vacated by Paul Hartley, the African has unfinished business to tend to next season.

"With his ability to drift into the middle and create chances and score goals he has huge potential as an offensive player," said Pele, now a FIFA ambassador. "I find it difficult to compare him to Essien in their styles of play, but he has the potential to be as big as Essien or any other African player you can think of.

"Essien plays defensively and we know Larry to be on the wing for Ghana. I think he plays more centrally for Hearts but he can be as influential as Essien, he proved that with the national team. Unfortunately, he couldn't play for us in the World Cup because he was suspended but he proved his ability in the qualifying series and in some of the friendly games since then."

Hearts find themselves indisputable beneficiaries of Kingston's World Cup absence, for showcasing this immense talent on the earth's greatest stage would have been expected to attract far more salubrious suitors than the Romanovs. But a four-match FIFA suspension for an altercation with Senegal's Habib Beye during an African Nations Cup match precluded Kingston from the grandest platform in football. It also left an entire nation pondering what might have been.

"Everybody in Ghana says that if we had him in the World Cup squad things would have been different," says Francis Maccarthy, Kingston's close ally and representative back home.

Rather than wallow in the dejection of the summer of 2006, Kingston can ensure a prosperous 2007/08 by remaining in Edinburgh.

Any offer from the Premiership would be likely to exceed his £15,000-a-week Hearts contract, which runs until 2010, but Pele offers first-hand proof that money isn't everything in football.

"It would be proper for Larry to stay a season at Hearts for the fans. I did that in the late 80s at Lille before moving to Marseille and it gives you proper confidence from the fans," he said.

"They are hoping and praying for you and then you can move on to another stage and succeed. When you leave with the best wishes of the fans then everything can go well in your career afterwards.

"I had a two-year contract with Lille and I had been named best player in France twice. I was about to move at the end of my first year and had the choice of Paris Saint Germain or Marseille, but the fans loved me so much that I forgot about the money and stayed for another season. The fans got to see more of me and learn more about me.

"When I left at the end of my second season, no-one spoke against me to say 'he shouldn't go'. They all agreed that I had sacrificed myself for the team and they had given me something back. Then it was time to make the big bucks, so I had to move. They appreciated me more because I had stayed.

"I would ask Larry not to think of the money. The money is important but sometimes other issues come first. I would like it if he can stay one season more. It doesn't just depend on him, it depends on Hearts. They have just bought Larry and sometimes they might want to make money.

"But maybe my thoughts are ten years out of date, from a time when we, as players, pledged allegiance to our fans and our teams. Today, football is not like that. It's about money, money and more money. If the team thinks they can make good money, I think they will go for that option."

Pele, as befits the name, certainly knows his stuff. One of the first African footballers to impose himself upon top-level European football, he scored 33 goals for Ghana during an illustrious career which peaked at Marseille in 1993 with a European Cup triumph. The Ghanaian government awarded him the country's highest honour, the Order of the Volta, making him the first sportsman to achieve such a distinction.

"I am also a member of the FIFA Football Committee along with Platini, Beckenbauer, [Brazil's] Pele, Roger Milla and others," he adds, proudly. Kingston isn't held in that sort of esteem just yet. He'll have to settle for analogies to Essien, the African Footballer of the Year. But Pele's comparisons alone should prompt Hearts to pull out all the stops to retain a prize asset this summer, regardless of Bolton or Newcastle's intentions.