Hearts complete signings of Aaron Hughes and Lennard Sowah

Hearts have signed Northern Ireland defender Aaron Hughes and German left-back Lennard Sowah until the end of the season.

Aaron Hughes has signed until the end of the season

The pair have agreed short-term deals which could potentially be extended beyond the summer. They met their new new team-mates and trained at Riccarton for the first time this morning after agreeing to become head coach Ian Cathro’s first signings.

Fitness permitting, they will make their Hearts debuts a week on Sunday against Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup. Both players arrive as free agents to reinforce the Edinburgh club’s defence.

Hughes has vast experience as a former English Premier League centre-back with Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Fulham. He also holds 104 caps for Northern Ireland - who count Cathro’s assistant Austin MacPhee amongst their coaching staff - and represented his country at Euro 2016 last summer.

Lennard Sowah was formerly at Hamilton

Hughes spent the last six months as a marquee player at the Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters. He left as a free agent at the end of last year and has taken the chance to continue his career back in Britain.

Sowah has a considerably lower profile. The left-back is a German of Ghanaian origin, 6ft 1ins tall and 24 years old. He spent the first half of this season with Hamilton Academical

He managed seven appearances but left New Douglas Park last month when his contract expired. He counts Arsenal, Portsmouth and Hamburg amongst his former clubs and has also represented Germany at under-16, under-18 and under-19 level.