No More ‘Thrilla In Pinilla’!

Hearts’ talented but perennially AWOL striker Mauricio Pinilla has reportedly left the club and signed a six-month deal with Universidad of Chile.

Pinilla, who only made a handful of appearances for the first team, looked a genuinely top player on the all-too-rare occasions that I saw him and I think it’s a shame the way this has turned out. The last time I saw him live was in probably his best display for Hearts, when he scored in the 3-1 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie earlier in the season. At the end of that game he was controversially sent off for celebrating his goal and I think I’m right in saying that he didn’t start for the first team again after that, although feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. Perhaps he, like Vladimir Romanov, couldn’t be bothered with the refereeing in this country so just decided to leg it!

Nah, sadly I think there’s a lot more to it than that. He does sound like the sort of guy who would take the **** at a club like ours, but to be fair to him he was often the victim of some truly shocking Valdas substitutions……..and I mean bad even by Valdas’ standards! That plus the comedy farce that has been the Hearts management set up this season probably made him think ‘sod this’, and even if he did do the wrong thing by staying away from the club, you probably couldn’t blame him completely for his attitude. Then again, I probably don’t know half of what does on behind the scenes.

Still, Pinilla will always be one of those players that Hearts fans will think ‘what if’ about. And that’s a pity.