Hearts have said they "abhor racism" while confirming they will apologise to Isma Goncalves after the striker claimed that racist abuse had played a big part in his January exit from the club.

The 26-year-old was transferred to Uzbekistan top-flight club Pakhtakor Tashkent for £350,000.

He has claimed that racially-motivated taunts "from a minority" were a major factor in his departure a 12-month stay at the capital club.

Hearts has now said it was unaware of the abuse and said it would implement some "additional pro-active measures" to ensure there is a simple process for reporting such incidents.

The club said: "In relation to the recent report of racial abuse directed towards Isma Goncalves, Heart of Midlothian Football Club wishes to make it very clear that it abhors racism and any type of prejudicial abuse, and will not tolerate any incidence of such behaviour.

The Herald: Isma Goncalves scores the only goal of the game for Hearts Photograph: SNS

"The club is committed to providing support for its players and a safe working environment for all staff, and if anyone is proven to have made racial remarks to individuals inside the stadium then they will be subject to an immediate football banning order and we will report every single such incident to Police Scotland for action."

The club urged fans who witness racist behaviour to contact the club.

Hearts added: "We are aware that, as ever, it is only a very small number of individuals who have let the club and themselves down in this manner.

"We pride ourselves in being a multi-race and multi-cultural club and will take all steps to ensure that players and their families who join us here in Edinburgh, can do so, free from any concerns over prejudice.

"The club will be contacting Isma to apologise to him and his family on behalf of the thousands of supporters who share our anger and disappointment that they were subjected to this behaviour."

The former St Mirren forward had said: "I didn't want to leave Hearts at first, but the problem was that my family were no longer coming to the games.

The Herald: Hearts' Isma Goncalves (left) and fellow debutant Anastasios Avlonitis (right) celebrate after beating Rangers

"There were some people making racist comments to me in the stadium and my family did not feel okay about this. It was a minority, but bad things even from a minority can have a big impact.

"My family should be able to go to the stadium and feel comfortable - it's not nice when your son, your wife and your brother have to listen to people calling me 'a f****** black'."

Goncalves, born in Guinea-Bissau but who played youth football for Portugal, joined Hearts in a  second stint in Scottish football having had a loan spell with St Mirren from Rio Ave in 2013.

The Herald:

He joined Hearts in January 2017 after leaving Anorthosis Famagusta in Cyprus and went on to score 15 times in 42 games for the Edinburgh club.