Excitement is building at Hearts ahead of the new William Hill Scottish Premiership campaign. Seven new signings are finalised, at least two more will follow, and new head coach Derek McInnes is generating momentum.
July has been a prosperous month for the Edinburgh club after four Premier Sports Cup wins and three friendly victories, including Saturday’s 3-0 defeat of English Premier League side Sunderland in Craig Gordon’s testimonial. Fans are captivated by a new-look team and what they might achieve.
Seven new arrivals joined McInnes’ squad following the end of last season: Norwegian right-back Christian Borchgrevink, Greek winger Alexandros Kyziridis, Portuguese forward Claudio Braga, Irish midfielder Oisin McEntee, Belgian striker Elton Kabangu, Scottish centre-back Stuart Findlay and Albanian winger Sabah Kerjota. Burkinabe forward Pierre Landry Kabore and Icelandic midfielder Tomas Bent Magnusson should take that tally to nine in the coming days.
Kazakhstani winger Islam Chesnokov has signed a pre-contract to join Hearts in November, although the club would like a quick transfer before the summer window closes. It remains to be seen if that transpires. Assuming all of the above gets done, McInnes will have arguably the strongest squad at Tynecastle in decades.
He will use a four-man defence and a back three at times throughout the season. We have put together what could be the strongest Hearts XI available:
