Eleven days of the summer transfer window remain and Hearts’ business is not yet finished. Nine new signings checked into Tynecastle Park since the end of last season and more will follow before the deadline at 7pm on Monday, 1 September.
Head coach Derek McInnes is already operating with an enlarged first-team squad due to all the arrivals but there are still areas he wants to strengthen. Moving players out is also high on the agenda. Below is a position-by-position account of what to expect from Hearts before the window shuts:
5. WINGER
Three of the nine new signings are predominantly wide players: Alexandros Kyziridis, Sabah Kerjota and Pierre Landry Kabore. Add those to Alan Forrest and Kenneth Vargas and it's another plethora of options open to McInnes. Kabore may become more effective as a striker for Hearts, although that issue has yet to be determined. Islam Chesnokov may yet arrive this month, but there is a section of this article devoted to that issue further down. | SNS Group
6. STRIKER
If Kabore intends to challenge for a place up front, he will compete with fellow new recruits Claudio Braga and Elton Kabangu, plus Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland and teenage Scotland internationalist James Wilson. It is a strong area of the team unlikely to see more new faces unless someone is unexpectedly transferred out. | SNS Group
7. YOUNGSTERS
Aidan Denholm was transferred to Livingston this summer, with Lewis Neilson and Macaulay Tait loaned to Falkirk and Livingston respectively. Adam Forrester's brief loan at St Johnstone was cut short and Finlay Pollock has suffered another hamstring injury. Wilson is involved but would doubtless want more game time in attack. The size of the first-team squad makes it difficult for other young players to break through right now. | SNS Group
8. EXITS
James Penrice was sold for £2m to AEK Athens. That apart, Yan Dhanda is the only senior player Hearts have managed to shift so far in this window after they loaned him to Dundee. Striker Musa Drammeh is firmly out of favour but remains on the books. Kartum is on the periphery of the squad after two substitute appearances in seven competitive games so far. It remains to be seen what role Vargas is given, if any, once he regains fitness. | SNS Group