Hearts land Brighton's Odel Offiah and say yet another team tried 'inconvenient' late hijack of deal

Odel Offiah has joined Hearts from Brighton on a season-long loan deal.

Odel Offiah could make his Hearts debut in Sunday’s Viaplay Cup tie against Partick Thistle after the defender joined on a season-long loan from Brighton.

The 20-year-old, who can play at wing-back or centre-half, has made five appearances for the Seagulls and has been allowed to move to the cinch Premiership club to get game time. Hearts claim they had to beat off “inconvenient” late interest from other Scottish clubs to secure the deal ahead of this weekend’s second-round match at home to Championship side Partick Thistle.

“We’re really happy to get this deal done and welcome Odel to Hearts,” sporting director Joe Savage told Hearts’ website. “Once again we had the inconvenience of rival clubs trying to muscle in at the last minute but Odel was steadfast in his desire to come to Hearts, which says it all about our standing in Scottish football. We’ve had a really good few weeks at the club in terms of recruitment and the action on the pitch getting started, and I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that I’m looking forward to watching Odel pulling on a Hearts jersey and helping the team to build on a positive start.”

Offiah’s arrival continues the sense of positivity at Hearts in the wake of their stirring 4-3 aggregate triumph over Rosenborg in the Europa Conference League. The Jambos, trailing 2-1 from the first leg in Norway, won Thursday’s second leg 3-1 at Tynecastle, with Cammy Devlin scoring a stoppage-time winner to set up a play-off round showdown with Greek side PAOK.