Wandering winger eager to help Stendel

Donis Avdijaj admits he has had a “crazy career” so far but the Hearts newcomer is confident he will bring his goalscoring ability to Scotland.

The 23-year-old has already played in the top flights of Germany, Austria, Holland and Turkey and represented his native Germany at youth level and Kosovo as a full international.

The former Schalke winger signed a six-month contract at Hearts on Monday after being attracted to the club by Daniel Stendel when he decided to cut his ties with Trabzonspor.

The versatile forward had only been in Turkey for six months of a well-travelled life in football. Avdijaj was a prolific goalscorer in his youth career and was given a £41 million release clause in his contract after being linked with Liverpool.

He helped Sturm Graz reach the Champions League qualifiers during a loan spell, played in the Bundesliga and had a fruitful loan spell at Roda JC. He then endured an unhappy time at Willem II after leaving Schalke, before his spell in Turkey.

“I can say I have had a crazy career until now, but I can say I have learned a lot, I know a lot of mentalities and there is no country, no city in the world where I don’t score,” said Avdijaj.

“I score everywhere and also here. I hope I can show this. I have had ups and downs but I will do everything to make sure Hearts is one of the ups.”

Avdijaj joins a club five points adrift at the bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership ahead of tonight’s game against Ross County in Dingwall.

Working with Stendel proved the key to his decision to move to Edinburgh.

He said: “We had a lot of talks with a lot of clubs and also the coach, Daniel. It was clear my next step should be to come here and play with this coach.”

County were left shell-shocked on Saturday after being dumped out of the cup by second-tier Ayr.

Co-manager Steven Ferguson said: “The bit that frustrated Stuart and I is that we managed to handle that kind of challenge when we were in the Championship last season.

“What we had to do was clear. We had to match Ayr in their endeavour and their energy. We failed to do that so ability is taken out of the equation. It became a free hit for Ayr and they took it.

“We’ve got a chance to put things right tonight and get our fans back onside.”

Donis Avdijaj says he will score goals for new club Hearts.