Hearts sign Polish midfielder Adrian Mrowiec from FBK Kaunas

Aug 29 2008 By Carl Askew

HEARTS have gone down a familiar route to make Polish midfielder Adrian Mrowiec their latest signing.

The 24-year-old comes to Tynecastle from FBK Kaunas, the Lithuanian club also owned by Vladimir Romanov.

Mrowiec joins team-mate Marian Kello in being recruited from Rangers' Champions League conquerors this summer and follows a long list of players who have swapped Kaunas for Gorgie in recent years.

The signing of yet another player from the Lithuanians will again raise questions over Jambos owner Romanov's involvement in player recruitment.

However, manager Czaba Laszlo insists Mrowiec - who played in both legs against Rangers, as well as both 2-0 defeats to Aalborg that saw Kaunas knocked out of the Champions League on Wednesday - will prove a good signing.

He said: "This is a player we wanted to sign and I am happy he is coming to Hearts.

"We needed to strengthen the central midfield defensive position and I think Adrian will help us."

Laszlo is now expected to turn his attentions towards a new striker, with Hearts' desperate need for a scorer being highlighted by their inability to score in 120 minutes of the nightmare Co-operative Insurance Cup defeat on penalties to Airdrie United on Wednesday night.

The possibility of former Hibs striker Derek Riordan arriving from Celtic has been dismissed by the player's agent but aloan move for Rangers' Alan Gow could yet happen if funds can be found.

Laszlo said:"We are always interested in good players if they have quality but we do not have millions to spend and we must spend what we have very wisely.

"We won't talk about names at the moment. However, I don't think we will make too many more signings. We have Adrian and this is good news.

"It is very disappointing to lose in the Cup but we must not lose faith in our team. We're not Barcelona and results like Wednesday night will happen as we progress. No team wins every game.

"But we have ideas and we must learn and progress. As a team we all have responsibility because we are doing a serious job. Everything is possible though and I am very satisfied with our progress.

"We have a good test against Hamilton on Saturday when the players must show very good character so our supporters can celebrate with us again."

Taken from the Daily Record