Hearts have now announced the signing of Romanian defender Mihai Popescu.
The 27-year-old will return to Scottish football after signing a two year deal with the Tynecastle club. Popescu previously spent part of the 2018/19 season with St Mirren, and became a firm favourite of the Buddies support.
He started his career with Dinamo Bucuresti in his homeland and has been out on loan a number of times – including to the Paisley club.
However he eventually managed to break into the Dinamo side and played 27 games for them last season, helping them to the semi-finals of the Romanian Cup.
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Neilson clearly identified the 6ft 2ins defender as the ideal candidate to step into the team while Christophe Berra and John Souttar are out injured.
Subject to international clearance, he'll fly to Edinburgh soon to begin life as a Hearts player. Although he'll need to self-isolate for two weeks on arrival due to Government COVID-19 restrictions. He can then start training with his new teammates.
