More Hearts transfers to come as Derek McInnes reveals his plans - plus a loan deal

Hearts play the final friendly of their Spanish training camp against Crawley Town on Friday, after which head coach Derek McInnes will re-evaluate the first-team squad. He brought 28 players here and watched Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with St Mirren. Now he is preparing for English League Two opponents before Saturday’s flight back to Edinburgh.

Having signed six players already this summer, and with captain Lawrence Shankland signing a three-year contract after arriving in Spain, McInnes is far from finished in the transfer market. Negotiations are currently ongoing for two attackers, Albanian winger Sabah Kerjota from Italian Serie C side US Sambenedettese and Burkina Faso internationalist Pierre Landry Kabore from Estonian club JK Narva Trans.

All six new signings completed so far are in Spain with Hearts - Norwegian right-back Christian Borchgrevink, Greek winger Alexandros Kyziridis, Belgian striker Elton Kabangu, Irish midfielder Oisin McEntee, Portuguese striker Claudio Braga and Scottish centre-back Stuart Findlay. McInnes outlined his plan for the remainder of the summer window at the pre-season base as he looks to recruit more players.

“It's dependent, really, on what we get from the lads here,” he said. “But I still think for us to be the team that I've envisaged - and obviously if I'm getting this opportunity, it needs to be a team that I want as well and how I see it, how it’s playing - we're still two or three short I think for that to be perfect. We're a bit overloaded in certain areas, but we've got some good options as well in certain areas. So I feel really happy and grateful that we've got those options. I still think we could do with two or three.”

A nerve injury in Craig Gordon’s shoulder means Zander Clark, Ryan Fulton and Harry Stone are the three goalkeepers on this trip. McInnes, for now, has not moved to bring in another one. “Not at the minute, no” he explained. “We're hopeful that Zander can stay fit and Craig gets a bit of encouragement for whether he's going to make it or he's not going to be too far out [for the Premiership starting]. Then we go as we are.

Loan transfer to League One for Hearts keeper

“We'll probably loan young Liam McFarlane out. He's got a lot of interest from League One clubs, such was his good loan at East Fife last season. So we'll try and allow his development. We'll put him out to a part-time club so that we've got him with us every day. The criteria was best level possible in a part-time club because I want him as a training goalie and I also need to see him every day.”

Hearts accepted an offer worth £2m for James Penrice from the Greek club AEK Athens and there are likely to be more departures over the coming weeks. “I think it'll be probably a natural way with that,” remarked McInnes. “Obviously at the minute we're working away with the lads and I’m delighted, I need to stress that, how pleased we are with them. But, when teams start to get picked, there are maybe some players who might need to look elsewhere to get more regular football.

“Obviously Macaulay [Tait], we took advantage of that [loan deal]. I'd like to have worked with Macaulay a wee bit longer, to be honest, but I didn't want him to lose that opportunity and Livingston would have moved on quickly if there was any delay with that. I spoke to Macaulay, we thought there were so many positives from taking that option.

“For a couple of the younger element of the squad, there have been a few inquiries about maybe going out on loans and stuff like that. While we've got a few too many at the minute, it doesn't feel like that because the boys are all working hard. Everybody has got a chance at the minute.”

READ MORE: How Hearts new signings fared in Spain