Polish midfielder Mrowiec reveals desire to extend Hearts stay

Patience and the ability to acclimatise to a new land are the key factors in most successful transfers and are both traits learned 'on the job' by Hearts midfielder Adrian Mrowiec.

Having posted some superlative SPL performances since impressing Jim Jefferies at a trial in Italy last summer - at the same Il Ciocco complex from which the Hearts squad return to Edinburgh this evening - Mrowiec, who began his career at Wisla Krakow in his homeland of Poland, still found obstacles in his pursuit of happiness in the Capital, the largest one posed by the inability of his wife Kasia to settle at their Buckstone home. Now his other half has found friendships among the city's natives and sizeable Polish contingent, Mrowiec has seen the missing piece of the jigsaw fall into place and is keen to extend his stay at Tynecastle - despite still having two years to run on his contract.

"I feel at the moment it's a very good time at Hearts," said the 27-year-old. "We play well and we have the Europa League so, yeah, of course I want to stay here.

"My wife maybe before didn't want to stay here because when we moved to Edinburgh she didn't have any friends, and now she has friends and she says, 'If it's possible, sign a contract.' I say to her, 'It's not so easy!' She doesn't want to move now, she wants to stay. She likes Edinburgh and also my (older] daughter goes to school and the second one goes to playschool, so it's good.

"Edinburgh is very like Krakow. Krakow is a nice city, a very old city. Glasgow is like Warsaw - everything is new and it's big, and I don't like it. I have so many Polish friends and there are so many Polish shops - I feel ('at home'] like I am in Poland."

The midfield enforcer turned in 30 league appearances in the 2010-11 season and was recognised as a vital cog in the centre of the pitch for Hearts in the early part of the last campaign. While his role in front of the back four as a 'destroyer' of opposition attacks may seem unspectacular, Mrowiec jokes that without him there as 'the glue', the midfield falls apart. Despite being said in jest, it's a reflection of the quiet effectiveness he carries in that position. "I like to play there," he said. "Nobody talks about you but you have to work for five people, so it's very hard work."

Mrowiec has established a reputation for such industry, and it was a grafting performance at Ibrox that drew the attention of Hearts. He stresses that the game, played three years ago when the rangy 6ft 1ins man wore the shirt of Kaunas and contributed greatly to a two-leg victory over Rangers in a Champions League upset, ignited his ambition to play in Scotland.

"I think this, because this was my visit in Scotland," he said. "For me, it's something new, coming to a stadium of 40,000. It's impressive. After I go to Tynecastle I see all these fans - 20,000 - and it's fantastic."

After winning an admirer in then-Hearts boss Csaba Laszlo, Mrowiec played ten games for Hearts after arriving in Edinburgh on loan during the 2008-09 season - an arrangement eased by Vladimir Romanov's controlling interest in both his parent club Kaunas and Hearts. The player remained on Hearts' radar thereafter and went on trial for Hearts at Jefferies' favourite Tuscan pre-season retreat, impressing sufficiently to win a three-year deal.

"Csaba Laszlo was here as coach and Kaunas played in the Champions League qualification against Rangers and Csaba came to watch me and he said 'okay, you can come'.

"We beat Rangers, after we played against Aalborg - we lost the two games and after the second game I came to Hearts. After just three days, I played my first game, and I'll never forget this. After this game, I felt something in my knee, and the next game I played just five minutes and was injured and it was a very bad time. After two weeks, I had a bad injury to my knee and couldn't play for six months."

Mrowiec had spent three years in Kaunas by the time he came to Hearts, following spells at fellow Lithuanian side FC Vilnius and Wisla Krakow, who he joined aged 15, then FC Vilnius.

He participated in a final training session at Il Ciocco this morning from 10am until midday but admits he would have happily prolonged the SPL season to avoid the gruelling drills to which he and his team mates were subjected in Italy.

"I was here last year, so I knew what to expect," he said. "I'm scared - I thought about this during my holiday. I'm happy now it's finished!"

It is testament to the high regard in which Jefferies holds the midfielder when, despite a self-confessed dip in form towards the climax of the campaign just passed, Mrowiec retained his place for most games. The player would like to repay his manager with a similar sort of loyalty, by getting back to his best. "I felt it (the loss of form]. Before I felt very good, but the last two months I didn't feel the same. April and May was not my time. Maybe I was tired - I played 30 games.

"Jim Jefferies gave me the chance. Before I came here, I came for the trial and played in friendly games. He said 'we want you to stay here, you can sign a contract', but I didn't think I would play much - maybe a couple of games. But I played all the games, every game I played (early on] we won, so it was a very good time for the team. Now I hope for the same. I feel better than last year, so we'll see."

He may feel comfortable in the Capital and at Hearts, but Mrowiec hopes to cap a successful campaign ahead with a homecoming to Eastern Europe. Returning to Poland would be a reward for more sterling showings for the player who grew up near Wroclaw, whose football team Dundee United must face in the Europa League.

"I think to keep third place (is our aim], but something more is possible: in Europe, to go to the group stages. I want some Polish team, maybe Wroclaw. Legia Warsaw is a good team and, the other day, Jagiellonia Bialystock won 1-0 in an early qualifying game so it's possible three teams will make it. For Wroclaw, all my family would come to watch."