What Kyosuke Tagawa will bring to Hearts and when the club expect Kenneth Vargas deal to be done

Hearts head coach Frankie McAvoy expressed his delight after the Tynecastle club were able to complete the signing of Japanese attacker Kyosuke Tagawa.

A full international, the speedy and versatile forward agreed a four-year deal after Hearts bought out the remainder of his contract at FC Tokyo.

Following the confirmation of his signing on Thursday, the 24-year-old will go straight into the squad for Saturday’s season-opener against St Johnstone so long as international clearance arrives in time.

"He's a good player. He's quick, gets in behind, scores goals and has good link up. He can use both feet so he's an exciting prospect. We're just waiting on international clearance in terms of today. But he's a player we're excited to get through the door,” said McAvoy.

Kyosuke Tagawa during Hearts training on Friday morning. Picture: SNS

"It's taken quite a bit of time but that can happen. The process can take longer than you'd hope but we're delighted to have Kyosuke in.

"If it comes through I imagine he'll be part of the squad. He can cover the four attacking positions. Striker, wide right, wide left or as the ten. He gives us great options and adds strength in depth."

Hearts are set to complete a deal in the coming days for another pacey attacker in the form of Costa Rican forward Kenneth Vargas. A deal has been agreed with the 22-year-old and his club C.S. Herediano. The Scottish FA have also given the green light and Hearts are now just waiting for his work permit to be approved.

"We're hoping it will be this weekend but it may be early next week before we get him in,” said McAvoy. “He's another exciting prospect as a front player. Again, can play across the front lines and has good pace.

"We're delighted to get the business done. If it could have happened earlier then great, but when you're in that type of market it can take a wee bit longer."

Throughout pre-season Hearts have missed a centre forward capable of stretching opposing teams following the departure of Josh Ginnelly. McAvoy believes it impacted on results and, in both Tagawa and Vargas, they’ve now found their solution.

"You know what Josh did for us and we did everything we could to try and keep him here. But ultimately, he's gone to Swansea who can pay a lot more money than we can,” admitted McAvoy.

"We know how important he was and it's important with the dynamics we had in the team, that we try and continue that. We've got a process of how we want to play and it's important that we get the right people with the right profile and character to come in to the set up to bed in.

“When you see the game we picked for pre-season, there were a lot of tough games. We played one Scottish team in Dunfermline. It was important we really challenged ourselves because we're going to come up against Rosenborg in Europe and Celtic and Rangers, who are both good teams. There's a lot of times you might not have the ball and how we're structured without it is important. That all led into the Leeds game.

“Having that pace up top is an important asset that we probably missed a bit but we've now got it."