When I met the Hearts people, I wanted to join, admits Fyssas

ROB ROBERTSON August 10 2005

PANAGIOTIS Fyssas rejected overtures from clubs in England, Holland, Spain and Russia to sign for Hearts, the Greek internationalist revealed last night.

The left-back, who was part of the Greek side which won Euro 2004, has signed a two-year deal at Tynecastle and is likely to go straight into the squad for their game against Dundee United on Sunday.

The Athens-born defender started his career with Panionios, where he spent nine years, before signing for Panathinaikos in 1999 where he played Champions League football, before moving to Benfica in December 2003.

He won the Portuguese Cup in his first season but it was his performances in Euro 2004 which shot him into the limelight and made him so in demand after his contract at Benfica ended in the summer.

Fyssas, 32, earned £4500 a week at Benfica and Hearts have offered him nearly double that to join them. It is understood that Edgaras Jankauskas, the former Porto striker is being paid £10,000 a week and Paul Hartley is looking to negotiate a contract to bring him into that wage bracket.

Significantly, George Burley, the Hearts manager, revealed yesterday it was Vladimir Romanov, the club's biggest shareholder, who first brought Fyssas' availability to his attention. "Mr Romanov was very keen for him to come to the club," said Burley. " When he pointed him out, because of his pedigree, I was keen to sign him. He will be a valuable asset to our squad and I hope to sign more players before the transfer window closes."

Romanov is paying the massive weekly wages out of his own pocket and the Fyssas signing, the seventh since Burley took over, is the clearest indication yet that the Lithuanian multi-millionaire will fulfil his promise to pull out all the stops to build a team which can match the Old Firm.

Fyssas refused to name any of the other clubs who had made him signing offers, saying it would be unprofessional to do so. "I had offers from Holland, Spain, the English Premiership and one big offer from a club in Russia," said Fyssas. "The club in England was not one of the very big ones and I did not have a great feeling for them. When I met the Hearts people I was impressed and said I wanted to join them immediately. The manager has given me the power and responsibility to play and I am 100% committed. I am ready."

Burley is also set to sign former Gillingham goalkeeper, Steve Banks, as cover for Craig Gordon and is also looking for a right-sided player who can play in defence.

Burley also revealed that negotiations between the club and Hartley had been "positive" and he was confident that the player who had been linked with a move to Celtic would remain at Tynecastle.


Taken from the Herald