What the future holds for Hearts' Japanese pair Yutaro Oda and Kyosuke Tagawa

The two forwards have endured frustrating campaigns this season

Yutaro Oda and Kyosuke Tagawa will get opportunities to properly establish themselves at Hearts this summer after a frustrating year. Coaching staff still believe the Japanese forwards can contribute and will give them the chance to cement a place during the pre-season campaign.

Injuries have impacted Oda’s appearances this term but the winger has shown flashes of his ability. The majority of his 28 appearances have been as a substitute, although he is Hearts’ third-top goalscorer with five goals. That tally is bettered only by Kenneth Vargas with eight and Lawrence Shankland with 28. Tagawa has struggled adapting to Scottish football since arriving last summer and has managed one goal from 19 outings so far.

Both players are contracted at Tynecastle Park until summer 2026. Hearts head coach Steven Naismith is prepared to see how they fare over the coming months and give them opportunities to prove their worth to the club.

"Yutaro has had a few niggly injuries which have disrupted him,” Naismith told the Edinburgh News. “In spells he has had some good games or come off the bench and done really well. Then he has missed a couple of weeks. The biggest thing for him is consistency, although he is our third-top goalscorer this season. He has had an impact in games. I really like his qualities. I think he has a good understanding of Scottish football now. He has good ability and he is a threat when he plays for us.

"For Kyosuke, this season was always going to be difficult. The physicality and the speed of the game have shown up. In some games I think Kyosuke has shown up well but he has been kept out of the team. Shanks has shown so much form and even when [Liam] Boycie was playing he was doing really well.

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"There are wee moments which haven't fell for him. The ball has hit the post or just gone past the post, he hasn't had that wee rub of the green. Those small moments can start you off. He maybe needed one to just go in off his shin to set him off and then he could keep going. That hasn't happened but I think he has qualities so we will see how pre-season plays out.”

With three games left of the Premiership campaign, Oda and Tagawa are just two of many Hearts players eager for more game time before the summer. "Both of them have been unfortunate this season: Kyosuke because Shanks has done so well, and Yutaro because the system changed in the last couple of games,” said Naismith. “They will both want to play minutes in the last few games so that's where we have the different dynamics because everybody wants to play.

"It's our job to pick the right team that we think is going to win the game, but also maybe give some of those players minutes as well. We have a few like that. The core of the team hasn't changed too much throughout the season. We have been fortunate that there haven't been loads of injuries, so there are players wanting minutes.”