Hearts snap up free agent Zander Clark ahead of UEFA deadline

Hearts have announced the signing of goalkeeper Zander Clark on a three-year deal.

The player has been registered in time to be included in Hearts’ squad for the Europa Conference League, which has to be finalised by midnight on Friday.

Clark was available as a free agent after leaving St Johnstone at the end of his contract in the summer. The 30-year-old made over 200 appearances for the Perth club and won both the League Cup and Scottish Cup in his time at McDiarmid Park.

He will now compete with Scotland number one Craig Gordon for a place in the Hearts team as they compete in Europe and domestic competition.

Hearts manager Robbie Neilson said: “We’ve been working away on this one for a while so I’m delighted to get it over the line.

“I’m sure our fans will know all about Zander’s abilities having seen him feature against us for St Johnstone over the years, so it’s great to be able to bring him here to Hearts.

“We look for quality players and that’s what we’ve got in Zander. He’ll provide competition to Craig Gordon and Ross Stewart which will, ultimately, raise the quality of performances in our squad.”

Sporting director Joe Savage said: “Zander’s quality is obviously known to everyone and because of that we’ve had to patient in bringing him in due to the options that were available to him, but we’re delighted that he’s chosen us.

“He’s always shone for St Johnstone, particularly when he helped them to a cup double, he always stood out so have him here providing competition in our goalkeeping department is great news.

“It’s another example of us using the free agent market wisely. Such is the nature of Scottish football, we can’t go out and spend millions of pounds on players so the free agent market is very important to us.

“We got Barrie McKay a week after the deadline closed last season, and look at how well he’s turned out. The hope is that if Zander is called upon then he can make the same kind of impact, and we’re all sure that he will.”