Malaury Martin: I can't wait to get started at Hearts

French midfielder Malaury Martin cant wait to get started at Hearts after penning a three-and-a-half year deal with the club. Pic: Hearts Media

The 28-year-old French midfielder completed his move to Edinburgh as a free agent after leaving the Norwegian club Lillestrom. His contract there expired in December and he signed a three-and-a-half-year agreement at Tynecastle yesterday.

A graduate of Monaco’s highly-rated youth academy, he has previous experience of British football with Blackpool and Middlesbrough. He cited the atmosphere and passion here as the reason he agreed to return.

Martin will provide Hearts with creativity in midfield as a cultured passer of the ball and he likes to get forward and contribute goals. He confessed he is eager to get started.

“I have played in different countries and I think here is the best in Europe for atmosphere and passion of the people. You can find everything you need to be a football player,” he told the club’s website.

“I’m not a guy who will talk about himself, I prefer to show it on the pitch. Hopefully, I will be scoring goals and have a lot of success with the club. I hope I will be ready quite soon to start to play.

“The facilities here are amazing and the club has amazing potential. You have everything here to play football and enjoy playing at Hearts. I’m excited to see the stadium with the fans inside.”

Martin counts Monaco, Nimes, Blackpool, Middlesbrough, Lausanne, Sandnes and Lillestrom amongst his former clubs. He also captained France at every youth level from under-17 to under-21.

He explained why he was eager to make the move across the North Sea once he heard of Hearts’ interest.

“I played for Boro in the past and I lived in Newcastle, so obviously this was not the first time I heard about the club,” he said.

“I’ve known the club for a long time now. It was great to know about their interest and I’m really happy to arrive here. I really enjoyed my first day and I’m really impatient to get to know the players and start my first training.”