Jose Goncalves eased fears over his Hearts future on Monday as he returned to training with the rest of the squad at their Riccarton base.The left-back, 22, missed Saturday's 3-0 SPL win over Inverness after being disciplined by caretaker-manager Stephen Frail for an incident which occurred during Wednesday night's 4-0 defeat to Rangers.

It is understood Goncalves spent the weekend in Portugal and apparently refused to confirm whether he would be willing to return to Tynecastle.

However, he arrived back in Edinburgh on Sunday and reported for duty on Monday.

"Jose was expected to return to the Academy on Monday morning and he was back with the rest of the squad as planned," confirmed Frail.

"The matter is over. It was an internal issue and, now we've dealt with it, we're moving on."

Frail insists Goncalves faces a fight to reclaim his place in the team after an impressive performance in his absence at the weekend.

The Jambos boss told the club's official website: "Jose's challenge now is to force his way back into the team.

"The side I picked on Saturday produced a really good performance and a fantastic result.

"I know that Jose will be determined to force his way back in and that can only be good for the team to have competition for places."

More Football News from TEAMtalk