New Hearts signing Orestis Kiomourtzoglou has been registered for the Europa Conference League despite the club still waiting on his visa.
The German midfielder penned a three-year deal with the Tynecastle club a week ago. They paid £350,000 to sign him from Eredivisie outfit Heracles Almelo and he was paraded in front of the fans prior to last Sunday’s 3-2 Scottish Premiership win over St Johnstone.
However, he still hasn’t made his debut in maroon. He missed the Premier Sports Cup defeat to Kilmarnock in midweek and yesterday’s 1-0 league loss away to Livingston. The Home Office is yet to rubber stamp the paperwork required for the 24-year-old to take to the pitch. Regardless, Robbie Neilson has included him in the 25-man squad ahead of Thursday’s Europa Conference League Group A opener at home to Istanbul Basaksehir to ensure the new recruit is ready to go when the red tape is taken care of.
Basaksehir warmed up for their trip to the Scottish capital with a 2-0 win over Alanyaspor. The result sent them top of the Turkish Super Ligue just hours after Hearts slipped from third in the Premiership.
Injuries have left the Jambos short in recent weeks. But Kiomourtzoglou could be at Neilson's disposal next week, if not in time to face the Turks then hopefully for the Sunday clash against St Mirren. "He is registered for Europe so we are just waiting for the documents to come through,” Neilson told the Edinburgh Evening News.
“When the visa comes he is good to go but we don’t know if it will take another day or another month. He is fit because he has been playing and training with his other club, so he is ready to go.”
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