HEARTS last night released record signing Mirsad Beslija after reaching a severance agreement with the injury-plagued midfielder for the remaining seven months of his contract.
Besljia became Hearts most expensive ever player when he signed from Belgian outfit Racing Genk for £850,000 in January 2006 during Graham Rix's short reign as manager.
However, a lack of form coupled with a horrendous run of bad luck with injury
has meant the 29-year-old has been unable to justify the transfer fee Hearts paid for him.
At a time when club owner Vladimir Romanov is trying to trim the wage bill, it's thought Beslija was one of the highest-paid players at Tynecastle, reportedly earning around £9,000 a-week.
Hearts farmed the player out on a season-long loan to Sint-Truiden last term but he was also hampered by injuries in Belgium.
With Beslija making only seven first team starts in nearly three years on the books at Hearts, every appearance he made in the first eleven effectively cost the club £122,000.
He also made six substitute appearances for the club.
A Hearts spokesperson said: "We wish Mirsad all the best for the future."
Meanwhile, Hibs will not be signing Moroccan goalkeeper Khalid Sinouh.
Amsterdam-born Sinouh spent two weeks on trial at Easter Road, playing 90 minutes of a closed-doors game last week. But Paatelainen, who has seen a number of trialists over the past few months in a bid to strengthen his goalkeeping pool, said: "We decided not to offer Khalid a contract.
"We thanked him for coming over and spending nearly two weeks with us but we just felt that he wasn't the one that we wanted. I am sure he will find a club and is more than capable of playing at a good level."
Paatelainen will continue his search but insists he has every faith in current goalkeepers Yves Ma-Kalambay and Andy McNeil.
"The goalkeepers already at our club are very good, and I will not make hasty decisions," he said. "If the right goalkeeper comes along then that is great, but if not I know that we have two boys here who are more than capable and have done well for us.
"There is no point in bringing someone in just to add to the squad for the sake of it."
Meanwhile Chris Hogg is rated doubtful for the derby after suffering a reoccurrence of the blurred vision he has suffered with in recent weeks.
The full article contains 428 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
