MacPhee chat was behind Hearts move, says Tziolis

Alexandros Tziolis revealed a previous encounter with Hearts assistant manager Austin MacPhee led to him moving to Tynecastle.

MacPhee was aware of the midfielder following his work with Northern Ireland, who played Greece in the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

Hearts snapped up the 61-times capped midfielder after learning he had fallen out of favour at PAOK Salonika.

The 31-year-old made an impressive debut off the bench during Hearts’ 4-1 win over Rangers on Wednesday and is pushing for a start when they visit Motherwell today.

Tziolis, who revealed former Hearts player Christos Karipidis, a close friend, had recommended a move to Edinburgh, said: “My agent told me about the interest and Mr Austin called me and told me he knows me from the national team.

“He saw me play, we played against him some months ago. I took the decision and I hope it is good for me and the club.”

The former Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos, Racing Santander and Monaco player added: “My previous club I was in a strange situation so it was a good opportunity to come here and play games. I want to forget about the last months because it wasn’t normal not to play.

“I was out of the team because I had some problems with my club. But that’s in the past and now I am here and will give everything for the club.”

Morocco left-back Faycal Rherras could come back into the Hearts squad after returning from African Nations Cup duty.

Arnaud Djoum extended his absence by helping Cameroon beat Ghana to set up a final meeting with Egypt.