Announcement: Ayr United announce latest signing of summer transfer window
The 25-year-old, who scored four goals in 38 appearances in the North East, has signed a one-year contract with his hometown club after leaving Pools.
Hastie, a former Scotland under-21 international, joined Victoria Park as new manager Paul Hartley’s big acquisition in the summer of 2022. He signed a two-year agreement from footballing superpower Rangers.
Hastie rose through the ranks at Motherwell, breaking into the first squad in 2019 and made an immediate impact, winning February’s Scottish Premiership player of the month before being nominated for the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year.
Rangers paid £350,000 for his talents, but following a succession of loan appearances, he joined for Pools in an effort to restore his fading career.
Hastie was, in fact, indicative of a series of errors made by Pools’ new Scottish regime, with manager Paul Hartley acquiring a number of players from north of the border, offering two-year contracts despite his new recruits having little to no experience playing in England.
In his debut season at Victoria Park, Hastie did not score in 24 games as Pools were relegated to the National League. However, on the first day of the new season, he scored and missed from the penalty spot in a defeat to Barnet.
In November, the wideman improved and scored twice from wing-back, including a stunning opener against rivals York.
However, his time at the North East was up, and he was loaned out to Hamilton in January, where he scored three goals in 14 league games, ten of which came off the bench.
Hastie joins an Ayr side who are led by former Celtic and Scotland skipper Scott Brown.
The Honest Men finished seventh in the Scottish Championship last season.
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