Daniel Stendel: I have Hearts recruitment plans but they are shrouded by uncertainty

Hearts manager Daniel Stendel is back home in Germany.

Hearts manager Daniel Stendel admits the ongoing uncertainty in football is affecting plans to recruit players ahead of next season.

In addition to financial issues brought by coronavirus, the Edinburgh club still have no idea whether they will play Premiership or Championship football after the summer.

Stendel is working from home in Germany poring over footage of potential new signings.

He knows his club will, at some point, need to replace departing loanees and players whose contracts are due to expire.

He explained the difficulties of forward planning right now to the Evening News.

"We have some ideas with the players we have at the moment. We look at our squad and the players who were on loan," said Stendel.

"Will we have the chance to sign new players? Can we choose or are we happy with the players we have? Do we have the money to sign a player? Will we have the chance to play football?

"We look for players, we talk with our players and we think about what we can do with our squad. We look at players out of contract, we look at players who want to come to Hearts but we are not sure if it will be Championship or Premiership.

"We don't know if the league will be finished this season or not. Maybe other players who could come to Scotland have a contract until June, or maybe they need to play longer with their club because their league is not finished.

"At the moment, we can pay this salary, but maybe in two months we can pay something different. These things are not easy. We are still thinking about things.

"We are looking for players at the moment but the other side is more important – what happens with the season and what happens with the club."

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