SPFL Premiership fixture against Aberdeen is on Sunday

Hearts are assessing returning international players ahead of Sunday’s Premiership trip to Aberdeen as head coach Derek McInnes weighs up his options. After holding talks with incoming new signing Islam Chesnokov last week, McInnes’ attention now turns to Pittodrie and the chance to extend Hearts’ unbeaten league run.

Illness hindered midfielder Cammy Devlin whilst with the Australia squad and he will be monitored over the coming days. Hearts are confident he will be available to face Aberdeen and continue to be a key part of the team. Scotland players Craig Gordon and Lawrence Shankland reported back to Riccarton after the delight of helping their country reach a first World Cup finals since 1998, plus teenager James Wilson scored again for Scotland Under-21s.

Landry Kabore enjoyed the distinction of back-to-back international hat-tricks with Burkina Faso. After scoring all his country’s goals in last month’s 3-1 World Cup qualifying win over Ethiopia, he claimed another treble in a 3-2 friendly win against Niger and returned to Scotland high on adrenaline. McInnes said he was delighted for the forward as he outlined Hearts’ international players’ fortunes.

“Cammy had a wee bit of a bug when he was away with Australia,” he admitted. “There was a bug going about their camp and it floored him for two or three days. Lawrence has made progress with Scotland, Craig has played, James Wilson played and scored for the Under-21s, and Kabore has lit it up again with another hat-trick. The boys' group chat went through the roof as we were all full of pride and pleasure. We were so pleased for him. All his goals were nice finishes, a striker's finishes, he can be so proud of himself and I'm so happy for him.”

McInnes also addressed Kabore’s position within the Hearts team. The player often operated wide on the right form former club JK Narva Trans in Estonia, but he will primarily be used as a central striker at Tynecastle Park. “I know some people seem to think he played wide-right against Dundee United [in Hearts’ last match]. He didn't, he was playing through the middle,” stressed McInnes. “The way United played, their left-sided centre-back stretched into the full-back area and Kabore has got to match that. But we were a front two with [Claudio] Braga just behind as a No.10.

“I don't see Kabore as a wide-right player now. In a lot of his clips from Estonia, he played a lot of his best stuff and scored a lot of his goals playing off the right side in a 4-3-3. I prefer him through the middle and that's where I played him against Dundee United. That's where we will play him from now on.”

McInnes reported positive feedback from Chesnokov as he prepares to begin the next phase of his career in Scotland. The Kazakhstan international winger spoke with Tynecastle officials in a video call last Friday and has been watching his new team in action. He has signed a pre-contract agreement and will begin training at Riccarton next month, then register with the Scottish Football Association when the January transfer window opens.

“It was a nice and positive chat. It was good to establish exactly what the next few weeks looks like,” explained McInnes. “I spoke to him before his game against Belgium and then, obviously, he was sent off in that match. We are going through the process for him arriving and I felt it was a good chat. There were five of us on the call and he is fully invested in Hearts. He has been watching the games and keeping an eye on results. We spoke about when we can get him over and when we can get everything in place. We have a clear plan of what that looks like.”