The Portuguese player is desperate to make his long-awaited comeback against Hibernian on 19 October following 18 months on the sidelines with serious ankle and knee injuries.

Despite entering the final season of his current deal at Tynecastle, the former Benfica playmaker admits he is just delighted to be back kicking a ball again after dreading that his playing days were heading to a premature end.

After two recent outings for the reserves, Aguiar is in contention for a start at Easter Road as Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo bids to lift his side's spirits following successive defeats to Dundee United and Kilmarnock. And the midfielder insists a new deal will be the last thing on his mind as he hopes to celebrate a return to football.

He said: "I know my contract finishes this year, but I am not really thinking about that because, one year ago, I was sitting at home thinking I wouldn't play football again.

"Now I am very happy, I just want to play and I don't want to think about that. If I keep fit I know I have a chance for a contract either here or at another club.

"The most important thing for me, though, is just to stay fit. When I was injured, sometimes I wondered if I would get back to the same level I was at before. With these two games in the reserves and scoring two goals, I feel very good. Now I am confidant and I must have confidence because I am fit now and want to play.

"I am not Maradona, but I know I have quality. If I work good and I am lucky, I can play."

Aguiar insists he is ready to be thrown into the Easter Road cauldron despite the magnitude of game against their fierce city rivals.

Speaking to promote Hearts' new sponsorship deal with car manufacturers Citroen, Aguiar added: "My fitness is about 99 per cent there so it's very good, I am ready to play.

"Every game is the same; OK, it's the derby but every player likes to play in these games.

I think I have a good chance of starting that game because I am training very well and I have played in two reserves games."

During Aguiar's absence, Laszlo was appointed Hearts' head coach and the 26 year-old concedes he has a lot of ground to make up as he bids to become a recognised member of the team again.

Scotland midfielder Michael Stewart and the Greek Christos Karipidis have been the Hungarian coach's preferred central midfield pairing since the opening day of the campaign but Aguiar is confident he can give Laszlo food for thought.

He added: "It's more difficult for me, I need to show I am a good player for the coach.

"I have confidence in my quality, I need to work like I did before and I think the coach will see good things from me. It's good the coach is saying nice things about me, but now I want to play and help the team and show my football to the coach, this is the most important thing for me now.

"We have a lot of players with quality, but I want to play and I want to help the team. If the coach thinks I can help the team, then I'm ready."

Aguiar has backed Laszlo to get Hearts' season back on track following their recent set-backs. He added: "He is a good coach, he started very well and the team was playing good football. Now, we have had two bad results, in football sometimes that's normal. We must keep working very hard and I am sure the results will come."

Meanwhile, Hearts are on course to sell out their entire allocation of 3,800 for next Sunday's clash with Hibs.

Around 450 briefs are left after the commencement of a public sale on Monday.