What Hearts fans can expect from the signing of former Motherwell winger Elliott Frear

Elliott Frear put pen to paper on a one-year deal to join Hearts on Thursday. Here, Craig Fowler talks us through the player’s strengths and weaknesses

Elliott Frear challenging Scott Brown during the 2018 Scottish Cup final. Picture: Getty

With Craig Gordon's return to Tynecastle already in the pipeline, Robbie Neilson's most pressing order of business after taking over the manager's job at Hearts for the second time was to recruit himself some wide players.

Seeing as Hearts have won only eight league games since the start of 2019, saying the wing positions have been a problem for the Tynecastle club may be putting too fine a point on it, though there's little doubt they haven't enjoyed optimal production from those positions over the last couple of seasons. Whether that's down to centre-midfielders being placed out there (Arnaud Djoum, Sean Clare), forwards being used out of position (Steven Naismith, Uche Ikpeazu), youngsters being unable to produce consistently (Callumn Morrison, Euan Henderson, Lewis Moore) or under-performers such as Jake Mulraney, it is one area of the Hearts squad that's long been in dire need of an overhaul.

The arrival of Elliott Frear is the second of four signings made thus far aimed at addressing the problem. And seeing as Frear plays on the left-side of midfield, much like fellow new-recruit Jordan Roberts' favoured position, don't be too surprised to see another winger joining the club before the season begins in October as Neilson seeks to give himself the same strength in depth on the right wing as he now has on the opposite flank.

Frear's arrival

The 29-year-old completed his move to Hearts yesterday after mulling over the offer of a one-year deal for a couple of weeks. Having played only for Motherwell and Forest Green Rovers since 2014, it's fairly likely the player was taking his time to see if he could get himself a deal that would grant greater career stability as he enters the twilight years of his playing days.

2019/20 wasn't a particularly fruitful year for Frear back at the club where he previously starred for two-and-a-half seasons at National League level before making the move to Fir Park. Although, in fairness, he probably felt fortunate to be playing for them at all after going until October 1 without finding a club.

In total he made 15 appearances, scoring once, but came off the bench more times than he started. With English lower league clubs cutting their cloth accordingly after the coronavirus lockdown, it was no surprise to see Frear available.

His qualities

Much like Roberts, Frear is a wide player with plenty of pace. But while Roberts is direct and likes to attack the box, Frear prefers to do most of his work nearer the touchline, whipping balls into the penalty area.

Frear is both an enthusiastic and efficient crosser of the ball. During his three seasons in the Scottish top flight, he ranked second, first and fourth of all players for crosses attempted per 90 minutes. The quality of those deliveries fluctuated a bit more, but even his poorest year - 32 per cent in 2017/18 - is better than average for a winger, while the 38 per cent success rate he posted in 2016/17 is an elite level among Premiership players. Originally signed by Mark McGhee in the January window, Frear would become a key reason Motherwell avoided relegation in his first season after Stephen Robinson took over as boss a month later.

If the winger can discover this kind of found at Hearts then he should provide more than enough ammunition for Liam Boyce and Steven Naismith, two strikers who should already consider themselves far too good for the Scottish Championship – even if their performances last term didn't always suggest it – to rack up the goals between them.

Concerns

Unfortunately for Frear, that initial half-season in Lanarkshire has been the peak of his career to date. Initially a favourite of his manager, he soon found himself in and out of the line-up.

Part of the reason was that he didn't fully fit into Robinson's preferred 3-5-2 at the time. Built like a whippet, he's not a particularly robust defensive player and being tasked with the industrious side of the game, along with the imaginative, detracted from his performances. But even in a 4-3-3 or similar formation he failed to live up to the initial hype and frustrated Motherwell supporters.

When he's on his game, Frear can terrorise any full-back in the country and should make mincemeat of those in the second tier. The problem is that he sometimes lacks self-belief on the ball and has a vexing habit of slowly dribbling towards a defender until he's almost at a standstill before attempting to manoeuvre around them, instead of using his natural momentum against a back-tracking opponent.

Hearts fans are not exactly renowned for their patience and Tynecastle is an unforgiving place for a winger who isn't in form, so he'd do well to to trust his abilities and drive at full-backs or he'll have the weight of the crowd on his shoulders, even if it is a reduced capacity in this pandemic-stricken world.

Let's stay positive

Before we get too bogged down in negatives, there are three caveats to consider: one, he was playing at a higher level than he will be next season; two, Neilson had a good look at the player on trial before offering him a deal so must be satisfied with his quality in comparison to the rest of the squad (and he'd have been going up against Michael Smith in training), and three, with Roberts in the squad he'll most likely be used as a rotation player or a different option off the bench.

Is it the most exciting signing Hearts have made or will make this summer? No. But bringing in someone who's shown more than a few flashes at the top flight level and is familiar with Scottish football to bolster a problem position is not a bad bit of business.

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