Troubled Hearts launch 11th-hour bid to keep defender Wilson
Graeme Croser

Hearts' administrators BDO were attempting to secure a shock deal which would see Danny Wilson continue to play for the club next term.

Wilson spent the second half of last term on loan at Tynecastle from Liverpool but a pre-contract deal to sign the defender for a further three years had to be scrapped when the Gorgie outfit was plunged into administration earlier this month.

Following the insolvency event, the club are subject to a transfer embargo but Wilson is still technically a Hearts player until his registration runs out at midnight on Sunday.

The release of John Sutton, who opted to leave the club for Motherwell rather than take a wage cut, has freed up room in BDO's budget and they were in talks on Saturday with the SPFL and SFA to secure what would effectively be a contract extension with Wilson.

The move is sure to be controversial given the severe cost-cutting by BDO at Tynecastle, which has included the redundancies of 14 non-playing staff.

However, the 21-year-old enjoyed his brief spell at Hearts last term and is understood to be willing to stay on significantly reduced terms from the deal struck with the previous regime.

Wilson, who switched to Anfield from Rangers in a £3million transfer in 2010, views his next move as a purely footballing decision and, despite Hearts being hit with a 15-point penalty and facing a fight against relegation, is willing to start again in Edinburgh.