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Hearts of Oak have defended their off-season signings despite the failure to recruit several players recommended by coach CK Akunnor. The Phobians have suffered three successive Premier League defeats this term. Hearts are currently hovering above the relegation zone with a paltry four points after five rounds of matches in the top flight. An anonymous source had hinted to MTNFootball.com of the club�s failure to secure some top Premier League players in the off-season. Some of the players penciled for recruitment by Akunnor included; Yahaya Mohammed (now with Amidaus), Rashid Sumaila (now with Kotoko), AshGold�s striker Yakubu Mohammed, Aduana Stars� Godfred Saka, Kwabena Edusei (now with Kotoko), Hans Koufie of Medeama and Latif Salifu (now with Chelsea). Coach Akunnor had refused to comment on the quality of buys made amidst mounting pressure from the fans in Hearts� early season slump. But the club says it did all it could to recruit all the players the ex Ghana international presented in his transfer wish list. �CK (Akunnor) had a tall list of players he wanted, but presenting a list doesn�t necessarily mean you will get them,� the club�s Administrative Manager Ashford Tetteh-Oku told MTNFootball.com. �Money was not an issue with this recruitment. Either the players didn�t want to come to Hearts or the clubs were unwilling to sell. �Everyone knows for instance we had extensive discussions to sign Rashid Sumaila. �The same with Latif Salifu where the club (Liberty Professionals) were prepared to sell but they later got a better deal elsewhere. �You cannot force a player or a club to release its players to you especially when they are unwilling to sell. �Kotoko for instance again wrote to have Mahatma Otoo, but we were not prepared to sell and that ended it. �So it�s not the case that we did not make the effort to sign these players but rather a number of factors beyound our control.� Hearts boast of being the richest club in Ghana haven sold some of its shares earlier this year to raise revenue.