Salvatori to sign for three years

By RAY HEPBURN

4 Oct 1996

ITALIAN midfielder Stefano Salvatori's short-term stay at Hearts has been rewarded with a new three-year contract.

The 29-year-old former Atalanta player has been on trial for the last month with Jim Jefferies' team.

And when that interim deal expires on Sunday, Salvatori will sign a contract that will keep him at Tynecastle until 1999.

He is just the latest continental player that Jefferies has brought to Scotland.

Striker Hans Eskillson has returned to Sweden, but keeper Gilles Rousset and defender Pasquale Bruno are first-team regulars.

Jefferies also could make a move for another Frenchman, international striker Stephane Paille, who is a friend of keeper Rousset and currently plays for Caen.

The former Porto player is reported to be available for a small fee.

It was an impressive display in his first Edinburgh derby last Saturday which helped to clinch Salvatori's long-term stay.

Hearts' 3-1 win at Easter Road lifted them to joint-third in the table and marked a new stage in the reconstruction of Jefferies' side.

Only Gary Mackay, David McPherson, and goalscorer John Robertson were in the side that drew 2-2 in the corresponding fixture last season.

Taken from the Herald