Harry Cochrane admits he shed tears on his final day as a Hearts player.
The 20-year-old midfielder rejected a new contract at Tynecastle to go in more regular search of first team football after spending the second half of this season on loan at Montrose.
Cochrane was loaned to Dunfermline in 2019/20 but struggled to make an impact at East End Park.
There were high hopes for Cochrane when he burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old, scoring the opening goal as Hearts smashed Celtic’s unbeaten domestic record under Brendan Rodgers with a 4-0 hammering at Tynecastle.
Despite impressing, Cochrane began to struggle with injuries and found his top team game time becoming less frequent.
After his latest temporary stint at Links Park, Cochrane took the decision to leave Gorgie after seven years to try and kickstart his career.
But he admitted his last day as a Jambo was a sad one after so long at the club he joined from Rangers as a child.
"I’ve been thinking about leaving for a while and my last day at Hearts was sad. I’d been there seven years,” he told the Edinburgh Evening News.
"I wasn’t greetin’ on my last day but it was definitely emotional. It was the same when I left Rangers when I was wee.
“Both decisions to leave Rangers and Hearts have been based on game time. That’s the most important thing for me. Now I’m more excited to see where I can go.”
At one stage it looked likke Cochrane was going to the very top.
Italian giants Juventus were reportedly interested and Cochrane recalled the moment his father informed the Old Lady of Serie A had been on the phone enquiring about him.
He explained: “I remember my dad coming into my room. The first thing he said was: ‘Don’t be getting your hopes up, we don’t know how much truth is in it. Juventus have phoned.’
“I wasn’t really involved in it that much. It was more my mum and dad dealing with it because I was only 16 at the time. I didn’t really hear much more about it and it eventually fizzled out.
“Hearing your name mentioned with teams like that, I wasn’t sure whether to believe it or not.
"My dad told me not to get my hopes up. I was like: ‘It cannae be.’ It didn’t distract me, I was just focused on playing with Hearts."
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