Gerald Taylor arrived at Hearts in something of a blaze of glory, impressing against Tottenham and Rangers.
Fans had already been excited by the arrival of a Costa Rica international on loan with an option to buy, but when they saw his all-action displays down the right flank that only increased.
From there though, things started to go downhill.
His next outing in the league was the rockiest of showings against Dundee, being torn apart by Scott Tiffoney before compounding the misery by scoring an avoidable own goal.
He would only play three more times in the Premiership, six overall, before picking up a knee injury which will keep him out for much of the season.
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Gerald Taylor Hearts option to buy fee
As was reported at the time of his signing by Hearts Standard, Gerald Taylor’s loan from Deportivo Saprissa to Hearts includes an option to make it permanent.
And now, Not the Old Firm has learned that the fee required to do so would be £800,000.
That would come close to Hearts’ record transfer fee paid out, which was the £850,000 on signing Mirsad Beslija from Genk back in the days of Vladimir Romanov’s spending.
The injury to Taylor will obviously be a factor.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 6 |  ST MirrenST Mirren | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 17 | 22 | -5 | 15 |
| 7 |  DundeeDundee | 12 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 18 | 24 | -6 | 12 |
| 8 |  KilmarnockKilmarnock | 12 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 15 | 25 | -10 | 12 |
| 9 |  Ross CountyRoss County | 13 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 21 | -11 | 12 |
| 10 |  ST JohnstoneST Johnstone | 13 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 16 | 27 | -11 | 10 |
| 11 |  Heart Of MidlothianHeart Of Midlothian | 13 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 20 | -6 | 9 |
| 12 |  HibernianHibernian | 12 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 18 | -7 | 8 |
Firstly, it reduces the amount of time and games afforded to the club in which to judge the player and make a decision.
But there may also be doubts on splashing such a fee on a player who has just spent so long out.
Hearts did a similar deal for Kenneth Vargas, who impressed enough during his loan season to have the move made permanent. The fee was believed to be much smaller in that case but Taylor is slightly older and with more international experience.
Vargas hasn’t had the same impact this campaign and hinted at a desire to leave Hearts in January.
Should Hearts spend £800,000 on Gerald Taylor?
The price quoted will seem a lot to some fans given it almost matches their club record fee, which they haven’t come close to since.
But, like we say, Taylor is a full international with a decent number of caps by the age of 23 and is coming from one of the biggest clubs in Costa Rica.
There has been no return timescale put on his injury so it is impossible to know how many games he may get before the end of the season.
You have to assume he will take time to get up and running when he does recover though so he is only likely to get a handful of games in before decision time.
Can the Tynecastle side afford to be spending a near record fee based on such little evidence? Probably not.