FK Vardar Set Rogers Mato’s Price Amid Hearts Offer
The leaders in the Macedonian First Football League (Prva Makedonska Fudbalska Liga), FK Vardar, set a price of €1.5 million for their talented Ugandan forward, Rogers Mato, who is attracting widespread interest from a host of clubs around Europe in the winter transfer window.
“FK Vardar AD informs the public that, due to increased interest from several foreign clubs in our player Rogers Kassim Mato, the Club’s Management has decided to set a buyout clause in the amount of €1,500,000,” says the Skopje-based club.
R.org exclusively understands from sources, Hearts are leading the chase to sign the 22-year-old Ugandan international, and the Edinburgh club already had an opening bid worth €350.000 rejected, but that did not deter the Jam Tarts from continuing negotiations for the electric winger, who they believe will help them in the title race against the Old Firm rivals, Celtic and Rangers.
On the other hand, FK Vardar are reluctant to part ways in midseason with the joint-top scorer in the Macedonian top tier amid their own title race, who has scored 12 league goals and added three goals in the UEFA Conference League qualifiers, taking his goal tally to 15 goals in 17 matches across all club competitions this season.
Mato signed a one-and-a-half-year contract until the summer of 2026 upon joining FK Vardar from FK AP Brera Strumica, but the 41-cap Ugandan international is believed to have recently signed an undisclosed contract extension with the reigning Macedonian Cup winners.
FK Vardar Will Not Let Rogers Mato Leave for Cheap
With the Skopje-based club being undefeated in midseason and sitting on top in the Prva Makedonska Fudbalska Liga standings just like Hearts in the Scottish Premiership, FK Vardar are determined to keep Mato in the squad until the summer at the least, as the Red-Blacks are aiming to secure their first league title since 2020.
Furthermore, the board of the most successful club in Macedonian history already showed in recent weeks that they are tough negotiators by tying down to new deals most of their key players and keeping hold of their head coach, Goce Sedloski, who will stay on at FK Vardar’s helm until the summer while leading the Macedonian national team in the World Cup 2026 play-offs at the same time.
Last but definitely not least, with both FK Vardar and Hearts ultimately with the same aim of winning their domestic league titles after a long period of time, wherever Rogers Mato ends up playing the second half of the season, the 22-year-old winger who scored for Uganda at the African Cup of Nations will have a big impact on the title race’s final outcome.