New signing Malaury Martin hails Hearts' '˜amazing potential'

Expressing an eagerness to get going, the 28-year-old midfielder, who is manager Ian Cathro’s third signing since taking over from Robbie  Neilson at the beginning of December, claims to have been keeping a close eye on Scottish football and sees it as the perfect place to further a career that has been dogged by ups and downs.

Earmarked as a star of the future as he progressed through the youth ranks at AC Monaco, he represented France at six age-group levels and captained the under-17, U19 and U21 sides. He rubbed shoulders with  Christian Vieiri and Yaya Toure, pictured in those days, but after an unsuccessful stint in English football, with spells at Blackpool and Middlesbrough, his career faltered.

Having picked up a cruciate ligament injury during a pre-season friendly with Blackpool, he did not even make it into the 23-man Premier League squad and, although former Hibernian manager Tony Mowbray spoke in glowing terms when he signed him for the Teesside club, Martin failed to get the regular football he desired.

After leaving England he was out of the game for almost a year but was eventually able to kickstart his career with a move to Switzerland in 2013, with Lausanne, before moving to Sandnes Ulf, in Norway a year later. He joined Lillestrom in 2015 and has had a season which suggests he is over his injury setbacks and has regained some of the edge that set him apart as a youngster, weighing in with 11 goals in 45 appearances. His contract expired at the start of the month, allowing Hearts to pick him up on a free transfer.

He has signed a three-and-a-half year deal, subject to international clearance and, having kept abreast of matters in Scotland in recent years, he claims there is scope for the Tynecastle club to build on what has been achieved in the past couple of seasons and a determination to play a key role in that.

Speaking to Hearts TV, the playmaker, who was once picked out as one of the star performers when he played in the European Under-19 Championships, said: “The facilities here are amazing and the club has amazing potential. I’ve played in the UK in the past and I’ve known about Hearts and the Scottish league for a long time.

“It’s a great feeling to be here, I’ve enjoyed my first day and I’m now eager to meet the players and start my first training. I hope to have a lot of success with this club.”

Martin joins defenders  Aaron Hughes and Lennard Sowah as Cathro additions as the Hearts manager seeks to put his own stamp on the squad he inherited and the Gorgie outfit attempt to overhaul the six-point gap between themselves and third-placed Aberdeen and claw back the eight points that separate them from second-place Rangers.

The new arrivals will go some way to replacing former players such as Alim Ozturk and Igor Rossi, who left for Turkey and Saudi Arabia respectively, and Tony Watt, who has returned to parent club Charlton and Juanma who has left for Japan.

But, with Callum Paterson out injured and still in discussions over a contract renewal, and Arnaud Djoum and Faycal Rherras both preoccupied with Africa Cup of Nations duties, it is unlikely that Martin will be the final January arrival. As well as the experienced Northern Ireland defender Hughes and 24-year-old German left back Sowah, Cathro has made it clear that he has ambitions to bring in at least one more defender and replenish the striking options both short term and with a longer-term view of the summer

window.

Former centre-back Christophe Berra had been strongly linked with a move back to Tynecastle but, with Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy ridiculing an immediate switch,

that deal may have to wait until the end of the

campaign.

But others have been

targeted in the meantime, while there is an obvious need to address the

shortcomings of a front line that found it difficult to come by swathes of goals in the first half of the

campaign.

Cathro wants to rectify that with a finisher during the current transfer window, as Hearts eye progress in the Scottish Cup as well as advancement in the league.

That cup action gets underway this weekend, away to Raith Rovers, in the Tynecastle side’s first match since 30 December.

The league starts back the weekend after with a trip to Celtic Park to face the defending champions.