Genk want punishment for Hearts

Hearts of Midlothian are fast becoming the oddest football team on the planet. With Chairman Romanov spouting off barking nonesense like "You (the press) remind me of those Bolsheviks in Soviet times who wanted to shoot a peasant only because he planted the seeds following his own way..." they are now involved in one of the most bizarre transfer spats in history...

...and it's all over a player called Mirsad Beslija.

Mirsad Beslija once played for Racing Genk. Now he plays for Hearts. Well, Genk want Hearts to be banned from from the transfer market and from the Champions League because... well... they haven't payed for Beslija.

The Belgian outfit reckon that they're still due 80% of the £835,000 fee agreed when the Bosnian winger joined the Edinburgh club in January. Genk director Erik Gerets claims the Scots club told him that middlemen completed the transfer without their permission and now want to renegotiate. However, the Belgians are determined to secure the full transfer fee and Gerets wants Fifa to ban Hearts from strengthening their squad when the January transfer window opens unless they are paid up in full.

When asked what action he would like to see taken against Hearts, Gerets told the Daily Express: "The usual stuff. You are not allowed to do international transfers and not allowed to take part in the Champions League. That's normal in the rules of Fifa and Uefa and we hope they put pressure on this team to follow the rules. In Belgium, you need a license to play in the Belgian competitions and a European license for European events. To get these licenses, you cannot have debts to other teams."

Gerets continued "We now have a lawyer on the case and he tells us we should get the money, but Hearts are doing everything they can not to pay the agreed amount. What we are hearing from Hearts is that the player isn't worth the money and that the people who completed the transfer didn't have permission to do it. They are also asking us to make another agreement that would let them pay less and finish it, but that's not the way we act. They have to pay what was agreed."

So basically, am I right in assuming that Hearts bought a player and now think he's rubbish, and so, don't really want to pay the original amount agreed with Genk? If so, that's hilarious! Just think about all those teams asking for their money back. Boro will be doing Bolton for fraud over the transfer of Michael Ricketts and you can only imagine what Man City will do about the Corradi signing...

[Mof Gimmers]