Hearts eyeing multiple new signings as pre-season plans are revealed

Hearts women are “confident” new signings will be announced in the coming weeks as they prepare for the start of the 2023/24 campaign.

With the start of the new season just around the corner, the Edinburgh club have arranged a pre-season training camp and friendlies in England and are wasting no time assembling their squad for the new campaign. Multiple contracts have been handed out over the past weeks with Erin Rennie and Aimee Anderson being the latest players to extend their deals at the club.

New faces are yet to arrive at the Edinburgh club despite having nine departures confirmed earlier this month. However, assistant manager Sean Burt has confirmed that Hearts fans won't be waiting much longer.

“Everyone who left the club leaves with our best wishes,” he told the Edinburgh Evening News. “Everybody has played their part in getting the club to where it is at the moment. We can’t be content with where we are, we want to push on, the girls that have left played their part in getting us there.

Hearts will be looking to build on last season's impressive fourth-place finish. Credit: Malcolm Mackenzie

“We are hoping that there are going to be a few more coming in. We are quite confident that there are a few that are fairly close, and it shouldn’t be too long until we get some announcements out.”

Hearts ran into an injury crisis at the back end of last season with multiple players all having their time on the sidelines. However, there are no plans from the club to increase the size of the squad next season, with Hearts aiming for a similar-sized group to the one that finished fourth in their last campaign.

“The squad size last season was 20-23 and then you had some 16-year-olds that come up at the end that, they did really well and had a successful season,” Burt explained. “We are looking to keep the squad the same size. There have been a fair amount of departures and we are looking to replace that amount. We don’t want to trim it any further.

“Some players have been signing contract extensions and we have been tying down who we wanted to. We will be looking to build on that core group of players who will hopefully take us to the next level.”

The Hearts squad are due to report on July 4 for pre-season training. The only exceptions are players who are set to play in the World Cup starting on July 20. That means player of the season and Republic of Ireland international Ciara Grant will be return a a later date.

The Edinburgh club are set to travel down south to the Midlands for a pre-season camp at the end of July. Taking place an hour away from Birmingham, the Jam Tarts will play against Championship teams Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United as they test themselves in preparation for the new season.

“It is good to test ourselves against a different calibre of opponent,” Burt explained. “We don’t want to give too much away either. We would rather save any potential surprises against Celtic, Rangers or Glasgow City until we play them in the league.”