Conor Shaughnessy has joined Hearts on loan from Leeds United for the rest of the season, it has been confirmed.
The Edinburgh club announced on their official website today (Monday) that the defender has become their second signing of the January window.
Hearts reveal that Shaughnessy, 22, will join fellow new boy David Vanecek at the club’s winter training camp in Spain when the team fly out tomorrow.
OPINION
Shaughnessy should get the game time he is seeking at Hearts, especially as fans favourite Jimmy Dunne has returned to Burnley after making a big impression at Tynecastle in the opening half of the season. Yet, this must be viewed as a gamble by Leeds and their manager Marcelo Bielsa. Sure, the 6ft 4in (source: Transfermarkt) centre-back has been on the fringes at Elland Road this season, making just one appearance and he has not made the matchday squad for a league match since August. But Leeds supporters recall what an impact the Republic of Ireland Under-21 international made last season, particularly when Thomas Christiansen was manager and before he suffered an ankle injury that ruled him out for much of the second half of the campaign. Bielsa has showed great ingenuity as well as faith in the platoon of teengers emerging from the Leeds academy ranks. But a series of serious injuries have been disruptive and it should not be forgotten that Liam Cooper, Barry Douglas, Gaetano Berardi and Stuart Dallas and are all still sidelined.