Hearts transfer Q&A with Barry Anderson: New striker, how many more signings, club profit and Jamestown's role

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Q: How many players are likely to leave before the transfer window shuts?

A: “It's difficult to put an exact number on it because it depends on what interest there is from other teams and who wants the players that Hearts have got. We already know that Elton Kabangu is basically surplus to requirements and his agents are working on trying to get him a move as we speak, so I'd expect that to happen sooner rather than later.

“The other guys who are clearly not involved at the moment, like Yan Dhanda, you would expect him to move on. Sander Kartum is obviously not involved either, so again it depends on Hearts getting either buyers or loan clubs for these guys. Rogers Mato has been out of the picture primarily so far this summer, so it remains to be seen whether he's going to stay or go.

“These are the guys on the fringes of the squad. I think Wouter Vranken has made his mind up who he wants as the core people in his squad and the others will have an opportunity to move on if there are deals put forward that Hearts agree. James Wilson has been involved. He's been on the bench a lot but hasn't had a lot of minutes so far and I think Vranken seems to like him. Again, if he obviously wants to play regularly for his own development, which is perfectly understandable, then if Hearts get another loan offer for him and he gets an opportunity to play regular first-team football somewhere, that's something that would be looked at.”

Q: How many could still come in?

A: “Incomings will depend on outgoings, I think, largely because the Hearts squad is obviously enormous at the minute. There are 32 players there right now and quite a number of them are injured, so they have to be careful about who they let go. I think they will look at another defender because the defensive injuries are causing a bit of concern and that's something they might try to address before the window closes.

Further forward, personally, I think they do need some more attacking players, but they're kind of top-heavy in that area of the pitch and getting people out first is probably more of a priority. In terms of putting a number on it, I'd estimate another couple. I'd be surprised if it goes beyond two, maybe three at an absolute push. I wouldn't expect any more than that.”

Q: Are they still looking for a natural finisher for the number nine jersey?

A: “I hope so, yeah. For their sake, I hope so. I think that'll probably depend on what happens with Claudio Braga. If Braga goes and they get an acceptable offer for him, then naturally they would go and try to find a replacement at centre-forward. Amadou Ba-Sy has come in and I think he's quite highly rated in that department, particularly by Jamestown, but clearly needs a little bit of help. If you look at the strikers that Hearts have, if you include Elton Kabangu as well, there's Braga, Ba-sy, Kabangu, Landry Kaboré and James Wilson. So there are five strikers who all probably favour the No.9 position. Can you bring somebody else in there and take that to six? I think somebody would have to move on. It might well be Kabangu first and then they can look at getting someone else in, or possibly Braga goes for a bigger fee to use on a replacement.”

Q: Can Wouter Vranken sign any of his own players or do they all need to be ticked off by Jamestown?

A: “Every transfer, incoming and outgoing, that Hearts make is ratified by Jamestown Analytics and that's been the case since Tony Bloom got involved. Like Derek McInnes before him, Wouter Vranken can go to Jamestown and say: ‘I like this player. Here he is, here are his details and his background.’ Jamestown, if he's not already in their system, will put him into their system and see what his data looks like and how his numbers come back. From there, they proceed on whether to recommend him as a signing or not. That's how the process works.”

Q: Have there been any concrete offers for Braga or Kyziridis?

A: “None that Hearts have found acceptable, but there's certainly plenty of interest, particularly in Braga. I think there's a list as long as your arm of clubs interested in Braga, but Hearts want between £8m and £10m to do a sale and so far nobody has come in with that kind of money. That might change before the transfer window closes. I would suspect that Hearts are hedging their bets a little bit there and if they were to get an offer in excess of, say, £6m, I think that could be looked at. But at the moment they are quite adamant that it has to be between £8m and £10m for Braga to go.

“Kyziridis went off the boil towards the end of last season. In the second half of last season he wasn't as effective and he hasn't kicked on into the kind of form you would hope he'd start this season with. He was left out of the starting line-up on Saturday at Aberdeen, so a bit of improvement is required from him before you can really look at a transfer.”

Q: Why are James Wilson and James McPake not being given more game time?

A: “In every conversation I've had with Wouter Vranken about Wilson, he has talked Wilson up and has been quite complimentary towards him. So you have to assume Wilson is doing something right. He continues to remain in the matchday squads and is involved from the bench a lot, just not necessarily getting as many minutes as he would want. I know James is keen to play regularly and get more first-team experience. At the moment I think he's a squad player. That's probably the best way to describe it.

“Josh McPake was left out of the European squad for the first leg against Sturm Graz but he's since come back into it. He is clearly making some sort of impact on Vranken and perhaps he's a slow burner. Perhaps Vranken has just been sussing other people out first. I think he has sussed a few players out now and it's an opportunity to give McPake a more serious look in terms of the matchday squads. McPake has a lot to offer, but stepping up from the Championship to the Premiership, and certainly for Champions League qualifiers against Sturm Graz, was always going to be difficult for him. Given time, though, I think he can make an impact.”

Q: Will there be a new right-back?

A: “Personally, I think they need a right-back. I think they need a proper defender in that role. The squad has two right-backs at the moment in Jordi Altena and Christian Borchgrevink, so do they want to add a third one and create a bottleneck in that position? I'm not really sure. I don't think it's an absolute priority at this minute but, in my opinion, they need a right-back who is first and foremost able to defend. That would be one of the priorities for me.”

Q: What about an attacking midfielder?

“I think Hearts are quite well covered in that area of the pitch. They've been using Claudio Braga in that attacking central midfield role. They've also got Sabri Guendouz, who was signed after playing as a winger last season at Beerschot. Jamestown have identified him, brought him in and feel he can play in the No.10 role. Primarily, that's where he's been playing. There are other guys like Tomas Magnusson to factor in who can play in that role as well and scored a couple of goals from that position last year. Plus Ageu when he is fit. I don't think, at the moment, it's an absolute priority for Hearts to strengthen that area of the pitch.”

Q: And a centre-back?

“With the injuries they've got in that area, and the couple they've picked up in the last couple of weeks with Stephen Kingsley and Malachi Fagan-Walcott, allied to Craig Halkett, I think they've got to look at bringing someone in. Although the squad is big, they have to be careful not to leave themselves short when injuries are kicking in as heavily as they are at the moment. Oisin McEntee played centre-back on Saturday at Aberdeen and did very well, but it's not his natural position. There's also the possibility of a suspension coming up for Stuart Findlay. Taking all these things into consideration, I'd say centre-back is something Hearts should at least be exploring.”

Q: Have Hearts actually made any profit on a sale yet?

“They made a huge profit last summer on James Penrice when they sold him to AEK Athens. They brought in a couple of million pounds for him after signing him on a free from Livingston the year before. They also made what I believe was a reasonable six-figure profit on Daniel Oyegoke when they sold him to Hellas Verona in Serie A. This summer they made a small profit on Michael Steinwender when he went to Germany. Penrice apart, these figures are not earth-shattering sums but it's still money being made.

“They also made some money on Islam Chesnokov because he came in as a pre-contract signing from Tobol and then went back to Tobol for a fee, so again a small profit was made there. I think there are bigger profits to come and bigger sales to come for Hearts. That's the whole point of Jamestown and the model they follow. There will be bigger figures and players leaving for bigger fees in future.”

Q: Finally, should the manager have been in place before any new signings were made?

“I think nowadays, with Jamestown, that's not as important as maybe it would have been previously. Wouter Vranken was brought in at the end of June and Jamestown already had a number of players lined up. Some of them had already been ratified by the previous management team. The problem is that, if you're waiting to bring a manager in before making any signings, you can end up at the back of the queue, chasing your tail and being underprepared when the league season starts.

“Hearts didn't have too much time to waste once Derek McInnes left. They lost a number of players at the end of last season, lost their management team as well and had to replace them. Quite a number of these signings had already been lined up before McInnes left for Rangers and before Wouter Vranken was appointed. That's how the structure works. Jamestown identify players, the manager in place ratifies the recommendations and whichever players he fancies, and then he's responsible for the coaching, the tactics and picking the team.”