Mihai Popescu told he can leave Hearts


Despite having one year remaining on his contract, the 28-year-old is out of favour and preparing to move on as Riccarton officials trim some surplus from the first-team squad.
The Evening News revealed on Friday that English winger Jordan Roberts will be allowed to leave and Popescu is in the same position.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe centre-back played 23 times last season as Hearts won the Scottish Championship to secure automatic promotion back to the Premiership.
However, this term he has found himself marginalised as a new three-man defensive system remained in place from the end of last term.
He is not likely to feature going forward as John Souttar, Craig Halkett, Stephen Kingsley are established in those three centre-back roles. Peter Haring, Michael Smith and Alex Cochrane can also play there.
Hearts intend to sign a left-sided central defender this month, leaving Popescu with little option but to accept that his long-term future now lies elsewhere.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHe will be allowed to depart Tynecastle Park before the summer transfer window closes if another club are willing to take him on.


He joined Hearts last September on a two-year deal from Dinamo Bucharest and previously enjoyed a loan spell with St Mirren in 2019.
Roberts is also preparing to leave Edinburgh in the coming weeks with English clubs interested in taking him back south of the Border.
He has struggled to settle at Hearts and the club will not be difficult to deal with regarding his exit.
A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital sports subscription.
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.