Hearts boss Craig Levein building towards period of ‘sustained quality’

Hearts manager Craig Levein believes he is building towards a period of “sustained quality” as he closes in on contracts for Peter Haring and Steven Naismith.

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Austrian midfielder Haring is set to extend his current deal beyond 2020 while Scotland forward Naismith is expected to sign a permanent deal following the end of his second loan spell from Norwich.

Hearts already have the likes of Christophe Berra, John Souttar, Sean Clare and Uche Ikpeazu tied up for the next few seasons and Levein hopes to add Arnaud Djoum’s name to that list with the Cameroon midfielder approaching the end of his deal.

Hearts manager Craig Levein. Picture: SNS

Levein, whose side face Hibernian on Sunday, said: “We are quite far down the road with Peter and Steven. We are in the minutiae of the contracts.

“It gives me the opportunity to put those building blocks in place, to give us a period of sustained quality. I feel it’s really important and I’m working very hard to get them done.

“Arnaud, we have still got a lot of work to do. I told Arnaud I don’t have the mental capacity to do three things at once.

“But I don’t want to give up on Arnaud. He’s a really good player, he knows the league, he is reliable, he’s a great guy. He adds something to the football club.”

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