Arvydas Novikovas

Arvydas Novikovas (born 18 December 1990) is a Lithuanian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Turkish club BB Erzurumspor.

Club Career

Lithuania

Novikovas started his professional football career in Lithuania, his hometown of Vilnius. He first played for the youth side of FK Vilnius and on loan to sister-club Interas-AE Visaginas. At the time in Lithuania, he impressed while on trial with Benfica, but did not sign for them.

Hearts

In September 2008, Novikovas signed for Hearts. He made his first team debut for Hearts in the last game of the 2008–09 Scottish Premier League season, a goalless draw against Celtic, coming on as a substitute in the 51st minute for David Templeton.

In the 2009–10 season, Novikovas earned a first team place, though spending most of the time on the bench, in most matches. Towards the end of the season, Novikovas signed a contract with the club, a three-year deal which would keep him in Edinburgh until 2013.

Still very young, Arvydas suffered a serious injury and upon his return, he was sent to play some games for Hearts reserve and feeder team Tynecastle FC. There he was injured again after a horror tackle by a dashing Bally, which delayed his return to the Hearts first team. In the 2010–11 season, his playing time in the first team was still slender. Despite the first team lack of opportunities, he scored his first league goal for Hearts in the 5–0 win over Aberdeen at Tynecastle on 11 December 2010. Throughout the remainder of the 2010–11 season, he went on loan to Scottish Premier League's rivals St Johnstone.

In the 2011–12 season, on 13 August 2011, he struck his second goal for Hearts, again against Aberdeen, after starting the game up front alongside John Sutton, who scored the other two goals in a 3–0 victory for Hearts. A week after scoring his second goal, he made his European debut, playing the entire game in the second leg of the UEFA Europa League Qualification Round, a go

This page also has a version in other languages :  Арвидас Новиковас (russian)