Danny Amankwaa to be '˜serious player' for Hearts once fully fit

Danny Amankwaa set up Hearts' winner against St Johnstone

Milinkovic’s winning goal against St Johnstone on his first start at the weekend. The 24-year-old Dane is still not 100 per cent having not played for two months before joining Hearts from FC Copenhagen. However, manager Levein is confident he will prove to be a real asset.

Coaching staff at Riccarton plan to work Amankwaa hard this week ahead of Saturday’s Scottish Cup fifth-round tie against St Johnstone. “I’m really pleased with what has happened in the January window,” Levein told the Evening News.

“I think all the new signings are going to contribute. I think Danny will be better when he is fit.

“He is quick but he isn’t fit; he has speed but can’t maintain it. Once we get him to the point where he can play 90 minutes at full pelt, then I think we’ve got a serious player on our hands.

“Now we’re back playing one game a week, he can start doing some hard work. When we’re playing midweek games it’s quite difficult. You need players fresh for a game so it’s hard to do the work in between. I’m excited by him from what I’ve seen on the training ground and other bits and pieces.”

Levein was similarly impressed by midfielder Joaquim Adao, who debuted in maroon on Saturday after agreeing a four-month loan from the Swiss club FC Sion. He is also short of match fitness but looked like a useful addition.

“We don’t have anybody like Joaquim. I was pleased with him,” said Levein. “He was starting to cramp up but he held us together along with the centre-backs and the goalkeeper in the first half. I thought he was really good.

“I thought he read the game, anticipated well, intercepted and won a lot of tackles. His use of the ball was good. With one pass he put Kyle Lafferty in behind and that was probably the first time we had done that in the match. He showed he is going to be a big asset.”