Hearts injury update on new signing as pre season target set by Neil Critchley after done deal

Neil Critchley is hopeful that new Hearts signing Christian Borchgrevink can hit the ground running in pre-season if he manages to get some more minutes under his belt before the end of the campaign.

The Norwegian defender - who will join the club on a three-year deal from Valerenga in his homeland once the summer transfer window opens in June - has a track record of injury, missing the entirety of the 2022 Eliteserien campaign and the start of the following season.

The 25-year-old right back hasn’t played a competitive match since the final game of last season on November 9, during which he captained Valerenga and grabbed an assist in a 3-0 win over Sogndal. But head coach Critchley isn’t too concerned by his period of inactivity.

“That'll be communication between the two clubs,” Critchley revealed when quizzed on what he would like to see from Borchgrevink before he moves to Edinburgh. “He's obviously still Valerenga’s player until early June. He's got a slight injury at the moment which he's basically coming back from right now so he'll have to do a period of training and then we'll communicate in the next few weeks of how that happens. But he is their player. We'll be monitoring him, we'll be watching him and hopefully he doesn't get injured.”

Asked if he would prefer if Borchgrevink did play some minutes, Critchley responded: “It's better to have players who are in rhythm and when he joins up for us in pre-season we hope he's here, fitting well and if that means he's played some games then we'll have to see. He's their captain, he's an important player for them. They're very disappointed that he's leaving the club and we're delighted that he's chosen to come to us.”

Meanwhile, Hearts legend John Robertson believes Tynecastle talent Adam Forrester can make the right-back spot his own in Critchley’s starting eleven next term despite the imminent arrival of Borchgrevink. The 20-year-old - a key member of the Jambos’ B team - was integrated into the senior squad under interim boss Liam Fox and has enjoyed a breakthrough season in Gorgie, making 39 appearances in total.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen, Robertson admitted: “As a young player you never take your place for granted. As a young lad you're in the team and the manager is always looking to bring in experienced players, I don't think there's any doubt about that. I know the game has changed now, we've got a very large analytical presence and the new model, the new thing seems to be bringing in younger players, keep them for a few years and sell them on. That's fantastic if it works, it doesn't work for everybody.

“So young Adam will look at it and think, at the start of the season was Adam expected to be anywhere near the first team? Probably not. He probably expected maybe if he got an occasional game here or there, got himself on the bench, that would be the sort of progress he was looking for. But (Gerard) Taylor got injured early on and then young Adam was brought into the team and he's had what you'd expect an 18-19 year old lad to have, he's had ups and downs.

“He's had some really good performances, he's had some very strong under the radar performances and he's had a couple of performances that haven't been great but he's still a young lad and he's learning, he's a big athletic boy. He probably shouldn't have played as many games as he has, if Hearts had had the right personnel in place who were fit to play there. Because when you look at the start of the season, Taylor and (Daniel) Oyegoke, who was then suddenly sold very quickly and so young Adam was thrust forward.

“That's part of the process that you want as a club, you want young players. Hearts have got a B team playing in the Lowland League so they want players to be given the opportunity. Everybody's touched on young James Wilson, phenomenal season that he's had and he's been given his opportunity, he's taken it and forced himself into the Scotland squad which is just absolutely incredible at the age that he is. But young Adam, he's played away, played away, played away.

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He continued: “There's one or two other lads, Finlay Pollock I think could have possibly also had an opportunity to play a bit more often but that's part of the stuff you want to do, you want to bring through your own players. Yes, you want a strong pool of players for your first team squad but you need your young lads to come through otherwise there's no point in having an academy, there's no point in having a B team. I would always be in the process of having 22-23 really good first team players, two players possibly for virtually every position, maybe three goalkeepers.

“But after that have your B team players, give a pathway for your B team players to get to the first team and that has been a success aspect for Hearts. They've had a few B team players come in and play some football and that's the other aspect of it. When you're going well, fans don't look at where your young players are, how are they getting through but when things are not going so well then they think why is he playing, why is he playing but you've got to try and get the mixture right.

“Forrester, I think it's been a fabulous season for them and the young lad could possibly, as I say, he's going to have an opportunity to play in a semi-final and then possibly a final again. You go back to 1996-97, the last time Hearts played Aberdeen, we had a bundle of young lads in the team, Gary Locke, Paul Ritchie, Allan McManus, Allan Johnston, all those lads were given an opportunity and we managed to scramble through.”