DUNFERMLINE have announced that they have snapped up Heart of Midlothian striker Craig Wighton on a pre-contract agreement.

The 23-year-old, who had been strongly linked with Stevie Crawford's side during the January transfer window, will leave Tynecastle in the summer to join the Pars on a two-year deal.

Wighton began his career with Dundee, making his top team debut as a 16-year-old in October 2013, and became their youngest ever scorer a month later in a season they went on to win the Championship title.

He had loan spells with Brechin City and Raith Rovers before returning to Dundee for the second half of the 2015-16 campaign - in which he scored the winner to relegate city rivals Dundee United - but suffered a knee ligament injury in the 2017/18 campaign.

After 92 appearances and eight goals with the Dark Blues, Wighton joined Hearts in August 2018 and, to date, has played 37 times, whilst he had a brief spell on loan at Arbroath last season before Covid-19 brought football to a halt.

Pars boss, Stevie Crawford, said: "We are delighted that we have Craig.

"He is 23, he will be 24 in the summer, and he has put pen to paper on a pre contract with us. He is a player who I have admired since he broke into a Dundee team as a 16-year-old.

"He has a wealth of experience in terms of Championship, Premiership, Championship, Premiership, but he has also gone out on loan and had spells at Brechin.

"He had a spell at Raith Rovers on loan and even last year after he had suffered an injury with Hearts he went out on loan to get football at Arbroath.

"He has an appetite for the game, he wants to play football. Again it shows that we are trying to get the right kind of player that is hungry, at a good age with a lot of his years ahead of him.

"He is a different type from what we have got. I do see him as a striker. I see traits in him that he is more of a striker albeit he can play in wider positions because that is the type of boy he is. So there is flexibility to his game.

"He is also a player who has goals in him. If you look at his career as a whole, his stats are maybe not what you would want them to be but he has had to battle through injuries going to clubs that have changed manager and he very much sees Dunfermline as a club that is going in the right direction where he can start enjoying his football."