Mihai Popescu on Hearts exit, playing games for Hamilton and Championship test

The Romanian centre-back didn’t feature in Robbie Neilson’s plan this season.

He was made available and completed his switch to Accies on loan for the remainder of the campaign.

Popescu made 24 appearances for Hearts last season, helping the side win the Championship title and return to the top-flight.

While admitting the league was more challenging than he thought it would be, he is looking forward to playing games.

“I am happy I can get the chance to play and to show what I can do on the pitch,” he told AcciesTV.

“It was a good year for me last year. I played a lot of games and we won the title.

"To be honest, the league was harder than I thought. There was a good challenge from other teams. I really enjoyed the Championship, hopefully we will win the title again.”

He added: “Hopefully I can play the same number of games, maybe more, and help the team go back to the first league.”

The main aim for the 28-year-old is to play games but he is hoping to pass on any good experiences to Accies’ younger players.

Popescu was praised this month by Steven Naismith for his role in helping Hearts’ second string defeat Edinburgh City in the SPFL Trust Trophy.

“I’m not coming here to be a leader," he said. “I am coming here to play and to help the young players if I have good experiences.

"I have enough experience to help them learn better things from me, not the bad ones.”

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