Beslija slaps Hearts time limit on deal
BARRY ANDERSON

MIRSAD BESLIJA will personally pull the plug on his £850,000 move to Tynecastle if the transfer is not completed by Hearts inside the next 24 hours.

The Bosnian's ultimatum has come at the end of a two-week saga over his on-off move from the Belgian club Racing Genk, during which the player has become increasingly frustrated and disheartened by the uncertainty.

Hearts appeared ready to confirm Beslija as their record signing earlier this month after the winger flew to Edinburgh for contract talks, but the move stumbled amid allegations that Vladimir Romanov was not happy at the number of agents demanding a fee from the move.

With no movement on the deal, Beslija met with Genk manager Hugo Broos yesterday to ascertain his future, with both agreeing to wait until tomorrow to hear from Hearts before calling off the deal.

Mark Talbot, who represents Beslija, said: "I spoke with Genk last night and they haven't heard anything from Hearts so it looks like it's not going ahead. The club are almost resigned to that being the case.

"Mirsad has met with the Genk manager because Genk wanted to find out what his intentions were and, if he is still counting on a move. They want him to focus now on the game on Saturday and the ones which follow.

"The manager wants to know what is happening. It's not like Mirsad has fallen out of favour with Hugo, it's just that his thoughts at the moment are not all gathered and focused on Genk.

"The player now believes his move to Hearts is dead, so both the club and Mirsad want to draw a line under it and move on," added Talbot. "Whether Hearts are going to come in at the last moment and make a final effort I don't know."

Beslija must now prepare to play for Genk against Westerlo in the Belgian Jupiler League on Saturday given that a place in Graham Rix's squad has become evermore unlikely since Hearts secured Nerijus Barasa and Chris Hackett.

"If they've signed two players in the last fortnight who can play wide right then I'd say it's definitely gone," conceded Talbot.

Another Tynecastle signing target, Darren Potter, made an injury comeback for Liverpool reserves against Wolves on Tuesday night, igniting the possibility that his transfer, and that of his Anfield colleague Francis Smith, to Hearts for £750,000 could be pushed through before Tuesday's closing of the transfer window.

"He is now fit to play after recovering from the fractured vertebrae so we will see," said his agent, Steve Horner. "There are quite a few clubs interested in his services. I haven't heard from Hearts."

Chris Hackett underwent a medical at Tynecastle yesterday and is expected to formally sign today from Oxford United.

Meetings were set to take place between Hearts representatives and SFA officials at Hampden Park today in an attempt to work through red tape and allow the club to sign Australian midfielder Matthew Park and Bulgarian striker Branimar Kostadinov.

Neil MacFarlane completed his move to Aberdeen last night, and Stephen Simmons was expected to sign for Dunfermline today. Manager Jim Leishman said: "I'm hopeful it will be done today and talks have gone well."

Taken from the Scotsman