The 28-year-old's debut at Tynecastle had been delayed when Teplice rejected a transfer bid after he signed a pre-contract agreement in July.

But manager Craig Levein was left angry with his fitness levels on arrival.

"The decision was made to allow David to search for more regular first-team football elsewhere," Hearts stated.

The Scottish Premiership club pointed out that Vanecek, who had signed a contract until summer 2020, had "found regular game time hard to come by in Scotland".

Vanecek had scored seven goals in 16 games for Czech top-flight outfit Teplice in the first half of the season before moving to Edinburgh.

However, having made his Hearts debut in a Scottish Cup win over Livingston, he was substituted after only 34 minutes of his next game against Dundee.

Describing the striker's performance as "rubbish", Levein was "a little bit annoyed that he didn't turn up in better shape".

The manager said Vanecek had much work to do to reach the required fitness levels and, although the Czech subsequently apologised, he only went on to play four more times before the end of the season.