The size of Hearts' offer for Liam Boyce meant Burton Albion were resigned to losing him.
The Midland's club's manager Nigel Clough admitted after last night's draw with AFC Wimbeldon that his side could not match the terms on offer in Edinburgh.
And the situation was further exacerbated by their concern at losing their star man for nothing at the end of the season when his contract had expired.
This meant that Clough felt he had no choice but to accept Hearts' £150k offer.
He said: “A bid came in and he was out-of-contract in the summer.
“There was nothing that we could do about extending it on the terms he was looking for.
“The biggest danger was that he could sign a pre-contract in January and then leave for nothing in June.
“We didn't want that to happen as he's then thinking about his new club and everything.
“We thought that it was in the best interests of all parties that he went in January.
“We accepted the bid, he agreed terms and we move on.
“For two-and-a-half years he has been very good.
“We missed him when he was injured for almost a season when we were in the Championship and that probably cost us our fate.
“But generally speaking we have been delighted with him and we wish him all the best.
“The pre-contract was the biggest concern as when a player only has three or four months left he can look elsewhere so I think it was best all round.
“We waited until 24 days into the window and we rejected a couple of bids.
“This one we felt was the best one that we thought we were going to get.
“You have to make the decisions and deal with it.”
Boyce made a scoring debut for his new club when he blasted the winner in the 2-1 victory over Rangers at Tynecastle.
The Northern Ireland striker was previously prolific in the Premiership with former club Ross County.
