Hearts' big signings 'will shine through next season'

HEARTS supporters will see the best of big-money January signings Mirsad Beslija and Juho Makela when the new season gets under way, assistant coach John McGlynn said today.

The pair were both high-profile additions to the Capital club's playing staff at the turn of the year as the Jambos looked to overhaul Celtic at the top of the SPL.

However, after breaking the club's transfer record to sign Bosnian internationalist Beslija for £800,000 from Racing Genk and forking out almost half a million for Finnish star Makela neither player made much of an impact and featured in only a handful of matches between them.

But, having worked at close quarters with the pair in training over the past six months, McGlynn is confident that, with a full pre-season under their belts and time to adjust to the Scottish game, both players can prove to be valuable additions to the Hearts squad.

"With a good pre-season I'd like to see them kick on and play a real part in what's going on," said McGlynn.

"They didn't really play much of a part last season but now that they will have had a while here I'd like to see them really enhance this football club. I would hope that these two guys will have settled in now and are a bit more used to Scottish football and can prove to be a good addition to the squad."

And McGlynn pointed to the time it took Lithuanian internationalist Deividas Cesnauskis to make a name for himself in this country and urged the Hearts supporters to be patient.

Winger Cesnauskis, currently on loan from FBK Kaunas, endured a difficult start to his career in Gorgie but after slowly finding his feet he's managed to establish himself as a regular starter for the Jambos.

"David Cesnauskis struggled a wee bit in his first six months and didn't really reach a consistent level of performances but recently he's got more used to the style of football and is more relaxed and more comfortable and we are seeing the best of him I think," said McGlynn.

"That's what I hope they (Makela and Beslija) can do and they can use him as a wee bit of example. It can take time for players to get used to Scottish football and I think they'll make more of an impact now."

Taken from the Scotsman