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On the last day of the winter transfer market, the "Scottish" Edinburgh club officially presented as many as eight new team players - defender Jose Goncalves, midfielder Chris Hackett, Bruno Aguiar, and Mirsad Bešlija, forward Juho Makela, who all, except C. Hackett, agreed on three and a half year contracts, and also goalkeeper Rais M`bolhi, defender Martin Petraša and forward Ludek Straceny, who signed six-month contracts.
The team was first supplemented by 22-year-old right-back C. Hackett, who moved from "Oxford" and signed a two and a half year contract with "Hearts". His compatriot forward Juho Makela ( ) is leaving Helsinki's "HJK" club, where last season he scored 33 goals in 41 matches and helped the team to take the second place in the Finnish league.
21-year-old left-back Jose Goncalves from the Portuguese youth national team, who represented a Swiss team participating in the Champions League at the beginning of this season, and 24-year-old Lisbon youth academy graduate defensive midfielder Bruno Aguiar moved to the Scottish team, like many other foreign legionnaires, on loan from FBK, which is owned by Lithuanian businessman Vladimir Romanov, just like "Hearts".
B. Aguiar, who terminated his contract with "Benfica" at the end of 2005, arrived at "Hearts" as a free agent and without a transfer fee, while the financial details of the other deals are not disclosed. However, according to the newspaper "Scotsman", C. Hackett cost the Edinburgh club 60,000 pounds, J. Makela 500,000 pounds, and J. Goncalves - 700,000 pounds.
However, V. Romanov will have to pay the most for the 26-year-old Bosnia and Herzegovina national team right-back Mirsad Bešlija - about 850,000 pounds. The player, who has become a record purchase for the club, officially joined the team after prolonged delays, negotiations, talks, and even threats of lawsuits.
Due to the player's transfer in early January with the Belgian club, the Edinburgh club later rejected its offer, motivated by the fact that they were not prepared to pay additional fees to the agents involved in the deal. However, after "Genk" threatened to sue the Scottish club, negotiations were resumed and ultimately ended successfully.
Updated
In the last three minutes of the transfer market, 26-year-old Slovak national team defender M. Petraša, 28-year-old Czech forward L. Straceny - both of whom joined the team on loan from "Kaunas" - and 19-year-old French goalkeeper R. M'Bolhi, who terminated his contract with "Marseille," were registered in the team.
