Coup for Edinburgh City as they sign Conrad Balatoni

Edinburgh City have pulled off something of a coup in making former Hearts defender Conrad Balatoni their seventh signing of the summer.

The 27-year-old has signed a two year deal at Ainslie Park, and adds real pedigree to an area of the pitch City manager James McDonaugh found himself short in following the departures of Craig Beattie and Pat Scullion.

Balatoni was a product of the youth system at Tynecastle, although didn’t make a competitive first-team appearances for the Jambos after turning professional in 2010, when he was part of current City Sporting Director Jim Jefferies’ squad.

The Leeds-born centre back then moved on to Partick Thistle, initially on loan before signing permanently. He enjoyed a successful three years in Maryhill, helping them win promotion to the Premiership in 2013 and made over 150 appearances for The Jags in total.

Gary Locke then took Balatoni to Kilmarnock in 2015, where he made 30 appearances before joining rivals Ayr United, playing the same number of games for The Honest Men. A brief spell at Falkirk followed last year before spending the second half of the season at Torquay United.

Balatoni trained with his new teammates for the first time today as City began their pre-season training ahead of opening their Betfred Cup campaign away to Clyde next month..