The Austrian is preparing for duty at Dens Park

Fitness concerns over recent Hearts’ signing Michael Steinwender are natural given his last competitive match was on 24 November. IFK Varnamo prevailed 3-2 in a two-legged relegation play-off against Landskrona to preserve top-flight status in Sweden’s Allsvenskan. Steinwender hasn’t played since, but could be thrust into a debut for new club Hearts at Dundee on Saturday.

Injuries to Craig Halkett, Frankie Kent and Stephen Kingsley, plus the outgoing transfers of Daniel Oyegoke and Kye Rowles leave Hearts short in central defence. Lewis Neilson replaced Halkett 11 minutes into last week’s win over Kilmarnock, and Critchley must now decide between him and Steinwender to partner Jamie McCart at Dens Park. The Austrian is preparing to play.

“I am fit. If the coach calls me up, I'm ready,” he said. “Of course, you need to get time to know the team-mates, how they are playing next to you, and also the communication and the tactical aspect. I'm quite ready, but of course we also want to do it as safe as possible, as the coach also said, so we are not risking any injuries or stuff like this.”

More than 100 top-flight appearances in Austria and Sweden should be amble preparation for the Scottish Premiership. “Yes, I think it was good,” agreed Steinwender. “When I was very young, I always played with the older ones, so I always had to go into the duels as hard as I could. In Austria, when you look at teams and how they are performing, Sturm Graz played against Red Bull Leipzig in the Champions League and they won.

“In Austria, the quality is also really high. I'm very happy to have played there for four or five years. Then I made my move abroad to also get some experience in Sweden, where we also faced big teams like Malmö and Djurgården. I'm looking forward to it here.”

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The 24-year-old brings versatility, pace and strength. Perhaps one of his strongest assets is ambition, though. “I think everybody in the team is quite ambitious,” he commented. “I think every professional soccer player has dreams and it would be not good to not have dreams and just to finish the league. I think everybody in our team has dreams. I want to win titles as my ambitions are very high. Whether that's the cup or the league? Of course, the best would be both.

“When I moved to St. Pölten, it was in 2020. In the beginning, when we had a need, I was also playing as a right-back because I'm quite fast. We also played back three. I played a lot of systems already in my young career, but it just helps me to fit in.”

Steinwender consulted former Hearts winger Donis Avdijaj, a team-mate at former club Hartberg, for his thoughts on the Edinburgh club prior to signing. Training facilites at the Oriam complex on the city’s outskirts are somewhat better than what he was used to at Varnamo. “I spoke with Donis about the club, how are they set up and everything. He told me that everything is on a top standard here,” said the defender. “From the physio rooms, to the regeneration, to recovery. Here you have everything. In my previous club in Sweden, it was not like that. We didn't have the recovery stuff, we didn't have a gym.

“I spoke with him and he only said good things about the club, also about Tynecastle, that the atmosphere is really good. He also said that he was playing during Coronavirus here, so he didn't know how the atmosphere really is, but he also said he heard that it is really good.

“I can tell you what I had before. I had a dressing room with a bench press and that's it. Here you have two gyms, you have all the stuff for recovery, you have everything here. In Sweden it was not like that. Here I have everything. This is top-class.”