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Hearts Part Company With ‘The New Hagi’

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Hearts have sadly parted company with highly-rated teenager Dumitru Copil.

The 18 year-old Romanian, once unfortunately dubbed the new Gheorghe Hagi (these comparisons rarely do young players any favours), was a player Hearts managed to sign a couple of years ago despite interest at the time from several big clubs in Europe, including Liverpool and Celtic. However Copil would appear to have had problems settling into life away from his homeland from pretty much day one, and it’s been one problem after another during a difficult two years for all concerned.

The player was quoted as saying:

‘I didn’t want to stay there anymore because there were more problems.

‘I was adapting to life in Scotland but the problem was they never trusted me. They told me I was a good player but I never played for the first team and I only got a chance when there was a friendly. I was never noticed.’

Interesting that Copil mentions trust – I wonder if there were any particular individuals he was referring to here, or if it was simply a case of someone being defensive after not doing their abilities justice
in a new environment. I’d imagine it probably would be the latter, especially given the fact that he’s only 18, but it would be interesting to know what those he was working for at Tynecastle’s side of the story is – after all, ‘trust’ is a favourite word of Mr Romanov’s isn’t it?

Disappointing news this, as we all had high hopes for this signing.

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10 comments

  • Dalien says:

    Hearts released a statement pointing out that he is still contracted to them until the 31st January 2010, next year, and that any new club will have to pay up for him. This appears to have been widely missed by the press.

  • StockportJambo says:

    According to the Hearts website, he has 18 months left on his contract, so he hasn’t parted company with them yet – although he has been allowed to return home. If he leaves, he’ll have to pay to get out of his contract. It’s a shame, because we all had high hopes for what he could do in maroon, but not every talented youngster lives up to their potential. That’s football.

  • StockportJambo says:

    Dalien – that’s tomorrow’s headline. “Evil Vlad Child Molesting Scum Refuses To Let Poor Innocent Copil Leave!”. Builds the suspense, you see…

  • weetim67 says:

    It would seem that a lack of good coaches at Tyncastle means a talent to be help in high regard is being wasted. Good on the kid for recognizing this and getting out when he still has the opportunity to make a name for himself.

  • StockportJambo says:

    How on earth do you surmise this, weetim? Seriously, what do you really know about the problems that Copil has had in adjusting to life in Scotland? And would these be the same bad coaches that produced Craig Gordon, Andrew Driver, Christophe Berra, Egert Johnson, Lee Wallace (etc etc)?

  • MrH says:

    I think he works for the Sun…….!

  • DigitalTwisted says:

    Copil has been complaining about Scotland since day 1, and has been moaning he didn’t get a game in the first team since day 1, even though it’s obvious he’s not ready.

    Ignore weetim, on this subject he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, Hearts have some of the best youth coaches in scotland.

  • Specs Haver says:

    Its tempting to blame the regime for splashing out money on a 16 yearold Romanian lad and then putting him on a long contract before they knew if he was likely to make it as an SPL player. However if we’re genuinely looking to bring through youngsters from several countries with a view to selling them, then we’re always going to have some failures – for whatever reason -unable to settle, injuries, not developing properly etc etc. So long as we’re properly assessing these youngsters before we commit them to long contracts on merit, then I’m happy with this policy. Jonsson has proved it can work, and McGowan has obviously impressed Csaba too.

  • StockportJambo says:

    A football academy, like an academic one, is going to have successes and failures. Not everyone is going to graduate. If everyone did, what would be the point? We’d be doing well as a club IMO if we produce one £5M player out of every 10 youngsters that come through our doors. That’s just the way of it. Using the same simile, you could say that Copil is just a dropout – natural wastage that will inevitably happen. Shame we spent £200K (+wages) to find that out, but I’ll eat Tynecastle brick by brick if he leaves Hearts this month, goes straight to another premier league club, and does well in their first team straight off the bat. The lad simply doesn’t sound like he’s ready.

  • itsnomarooned says:

    While I have some sympathy with a youngster leaving home and family and trying to settle in another country, it would appear that Copil perhaps just wasn’t mature enough to do this yet – mumping his chops about not getting the first team doesn’t helpeither! I watch the U19s quite regularly and he never started any of the games I attended and when he did play was not a standout performer.

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