 Jim Jefferies has confirmed that Adrian Mrowiec will stay as part of his squad following a successful four-week trial period at Tynecastle. Jefferies has been impressed by the 26-year-old Polish midfielder and wants to keep him in his squad for the forthcoming season. Mrowiec has started all of Hearts' pre-season games to date and played 58 minutes of last night's home friendly against Wolves. He will most likely be loaned to Hearts from FBK Kaunas of Lithuania, who currently hold the player's contract.Jefferies said: "He's part of a squad here. He's on loan from Kaunas and he's been here before. I need a squad of players and he's a big, strong lad. There's no guarantees of a game for anybody so I've told him it's just about how he performs. But we'll certainly be keeping hold of him because you can't do it with 11, 12 or 13 players. He certainly has the physical presence to compete in the Premier League so he'll be staying with us." With David Obua suffering a torn hamstring and may miss the SPL opener against St Johnstone and new signing Kevin Kyle also out injured, Jefferies is in negotiations with an unnamed striker who could arrive before the season starts on Saturday week. teh manager said: "Obua's got a wee tear in his hamstring. We were hoping to have him available last night but it looks like he might be struggling even to make the St Johnstone game. We just have to wait and see how he progresses. He might be okay but we don't know yet. We've been negotiating for a couple of weeks with a striker. We're closer than we were a fortnight ago and I'd like to get him in for Saturday. If not, it might be the week after that. With Kevin Kyle being out, I think we need someone. We are encouraged by this opportunity but we'll wait till we get things on the dotted line before we give anything away." |