NEIL McCANN is set to become Hearts' third signing of the January transfer window after rejecting a move to Wigan Athletic.

The former Rangers and Southampton winger is believed to have held talks with Graham Rix and Roman Romanov in Edinburgh yesterday over a return to his former club and negotiations are expected to continue on Monday.

Should both parties agree on a deal then McCann, who had his contract terminated by Southampton earlier this week, will commit himself to the Tyncastle club until 2008.

The player's agent, Blair Morgan, said: "Paul Jewell made an extremely attractive offer to Neil which we were ready to take, but then Hearts came in at the last minute."

Earlier in the day, Rix made his second signing of the transfer window with the loan addition of Nerijus Barasa, a Lithuanian international defender, while Lee Johnson was signed from Yeovil Town on Wednesday.