Hearts boss Robbie Neilson gives transfer update and explains stage one and two

Hearts are working hard to secure their top transfer targets in a “quite quiet” market, says manager Robbie Neilson.

Hearts manager Robbie Neilson.

The Jambos started their first day of full pre-season training on Friday and were joined by Josh Ginnelly who penned a two-year deal with the club earlier in the week.

Neilson wants more than just the English winger, who was on loan at the club last season, and revealed that they have “stage one” and “stage two” targets as they look to be in the best shape possible for their return to the cinch Premiership.

“It's going well - I'll tell you in a couple of weeks hopefully once we get a few more in,” Neilson told HeartsTV when asked about bringing in new players. “We're working hard. We know the positions we have to fill. We have stage one and stage two – stage one is the key positions and once we do that, we'll look to pick off different areas as well. There's still quite a bit of work to do. The market is quite quiet, there's not a lot of movement anywhere, but we've got our targets and we're still working hard on them.”

Neilson is, however, glad to have Ginnelly tied up on a permanent deal. The 24-year-old showed his ability last term in Hearts’ title-winning campaign, but was sidelined for much of it by injury.

“I'm absolutely delighted, to be honest with you," Neilson continued on the signing of Ginnelly. “We've been working on it for a while. Josh did really well for us last season, even if it was curtailed a bit by injury. We hope with the medical staff we've got here, we can keep him fit and there's no doubt that when he's fit and playing well, he's a real talent. There's not a lot of people like him in Scotland.

“There were some tremendous moments – just not enough. That came down to the fitness side of it. He's worked right throughout the summer and you can see he is in top condition at the moment, so we just have to keep him like that.”

A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our sports coverage with a digital sports subscription.