Recently Robbie Nielson was active in the transfer market one again with two leaving, one permanently and one on loan with the same (one permanent and one loan) applying to arrivals at Tynecastle.
Morgaro Gomis (on loan with Motherwell last season) and Billy King (who was with Rangers) have left Hearts for Kelantan and Inverness, respectively. Whereas Hearts signed former Celtic striker Tony Watt from Charlton on loan and free agent Bjorn Johnsen after he left Litex Lovech.
Gomis had a loan spell with Motherwell to end last season but has now ended his Hearts career on a permanent basis to join Malaysian Super League club Kelantan ending his two-year spell with the Jambos.
The 30-year-old Senegal international exits after 58-matches for Hearts with King out on another season-long loan, having spent time with Rangers on loan last season too, where he made 13 appearance scoring the one goal – that goal came on his debut.
King will spend this season with Inverness with this a move Neilson, quoted by the BBC, feels this is the right move for him as the 22-year-old would have found it hard to get the regular first-team football with Hearts he’s looking for.
‘I believe this is a great move for Billy and will enable him to kick on and get some regular football under his belt. He returned from his loan at Rangers earlier this summer and, having spoken to him, he expressed a desire to get as much game time as possible. There is a lot of competition for places here and I feel Billy will stand a better chance of playing regularly by going back out on loan.’
The first arrival was Watt, who has also arrived on a season-long loan from Charlton.
Since leaving Celtic, where he made his name when scoring a Champions League winner against Barcelona, he’s played for Belgian clubs Lierse and Standard Liege before signing for Charlton in 2015, having loan spells with Cardiff and Blackburn last season.
Commenting on the move Watt said.
‘I’m still young and I’ve got a large chunk of my career ahead of me. This is a big club and I want to come back to Scotland, play games and get a bit of stability. I had a stop-start season last year for a variety of reasons, both in terms of injury and being out on loan at a few clubs.’
German defender Marcel Appiah has also been training with Hearts recently, the 28-year-old who can play at right back or in central defence played in a behind closed door friendly against Sunderland, a match the former NEC Nijmegen man scored in.
In on a permanent basis is striker Bjorn Johnsen.
The 24-year-old, who was with Bulgarian club Litex Lovech last season, has dual US (being American born) and Norwegian citizenship was signed as a free agent signing a three-year contract.
His career started with Tonsberg in Norway, he’s since played in Spain for Antequera and Atletico Baleares then tried his hand in Portugal with Louletano and Atletico Club de Portugal before going to Bulgaria in 2015.
Summing up his ability, quoted by the BBC, the striker said.
‘I’m a fast player and I’m good with my feet and in the air. I want to help out, providing assists and not just goals is key.’
