Frankie Kent reflects on wild final game as summer signing quizzed on which team tried to hijack Hearts deal

The summer signing’s final game for former club Peterborough United saw the League One side go into the second leg of their play-off semi-final away to Sheffield Wednesday holding a four-goal lead.

Incredibly, Darren Ferguson’s side managed to relinquish that advantage, losing 4-0 to Wednesday in 90 minutes, with former Hearts hero Callum Paterson netting the equaliser, before ultimately losing on penalties with the Owls going on to win promotion in the final.

A clean sheet and a simple away win at McDiarmid Park would be the perfect follow up to such heartbreak.

“Hopefully! It was crazy but that’s long gone now,” he said. “You can’t dwell on the past, I’m just looking forward and really excited for this game.”

Despite playing 50 times last season, Kent was made available for transfer after informing the club he wouldn’t be extending his previous contract as he sought a new challenge.

When Hearts made the call about his services, Kent was instantly keen on a move to Gorgie. He was persuaded further thanks to conversations with Jorge Grant, his old team-mate at Peterborough, and a former Hearts assistant manager.

It was enough to bring him to Tynecastle even after another Scottish Premiership club, rumoured to be Aberdeen, tried at the last minute to hijack the deal.

“I’d prefer not to answer that one,” said Kent with a wry smile when asked about the identity of the club. “It was Hearts all the way, to be fair.

"I think Peterborough have a policy that anyone in the last year of their deal is on the transfer list. They told me [I'd be available for transfer] so I thought, that's my situation, I'll just go with it.

"Once I found out about the interest, I got on to Granty pretty early just asking him normal questions. He had nothing bad to say about it.

“The assistant manager at Peterborough at the moment is Dale Tonge [Daniel Stendel's No.2]. I asked him and he said the same thing, everything is brilliant about the club, love the area, love the football and fans. He said it would be a good place to test and showcase myself.”