Football never really stops. Not for the people who work in it. While there may be roughly six weeks between matches, or 10 weeks between competitive games, during the summer, plenty is still going on behind the scenes as clubs look to retool and reshape their squads ahead of next season. As will be the case with Heart of Midlothian.

Players will be scouted, agents will be called, other clubs will be in touch. There is so much to do and decide before the action gets underway again. Supporters always have their eye on new players coming in, but there will be many tough calls to make regarding those already at the club.

The only three first-team players out of contract – Peter Haring, Andy Halliday and Michael McGovern – have already been confirmed as leaving, but several regulars in the starting XI could be the subject of tempting transfer offers, including Lawrence Shankland. 

There are also those who have largely appeared on the margins in 2024. Those who are under contract, but the club may decide to move on, providing the terms are attractive, allowing wages to be invested elsewhere as they aim to improve on a squad that finished third and reached two cup semi-finals.

One of those players could very well be Toby Sibbick.

The Englishman will be entering the final year of his contract and, if he sticks around, he'll be hoping the second half of 2024 is more productive than the first. He featured 28 times in total, but only on eight occasions in 22 fixtures since the turn of the year.

Craig Halkett signing a new deal means, along with Frankie Kent, Stephen Kingsley and Kye Rowles, there will already be four centre-backs ahead of Sibbick in the pecking order next term. Even with Halkett missing a significant chunk of the 2023/24 campaign, Sibbick's opportunities diminished and that will only get worse if a new player is brought in or if Lewis Neilson, returning from his loan at Partick Thistle, shows enough in pre-season that he deserves consideration for the fifth spot in the centre-back pecking order.

Yet, it feels like it would be folly to write off his chances of battling back and making himself a regular in the starting XI. After all, he's done it before.

Many supporters had turned their back on him in the autumn of 2022 when Neilson displaced him in the starting XI following a string of poor performances to begin that season. It got so bad that former manager Robbie Neilson deployed four full-backs across the defence for the opening Europa Conference League match against Istanbul Basaksehir rather than play Sibbick.

The turning point in that campaign came when he was forced back into the team due to a series of injuries and was named amongst the starters to face Ange Postecoglou's all-conquering Celtic side at Tynecastle. Despite the home side conceding four goals in a 4-3 barnstormer, Sibbick played well and his good form snowballed from there. The following midweek he was serenaded by the home crowd with the now famous 'Toby Sibbick song' as he put in a man-of-the-match performance against RFS.

READ MORE: How Hearts have evolved this season: Defiant defence, more control and set-pieces

Though he would initially find himself out of the line-up once Kye Rowles and Craig Halkett returned from injury, he would soon return with a vengeance after the latter sustained an ACL tear. Sibbick's form crescendoed with a masterful performance in the 3-0 Scottish Cup victory at Easter Road in January as Hearts chalked up their ninth successive match in a run of ten without defeat.

In hindsight, his form was too good for the long-term health of Hearts' season. Seeing Sibbick and Rowles rack up clean sheets dissuaded the club from signing a meat-and-potatoes type of centre-back to replace Halkett's aerial dominance. James Hill was recruited from Bournemouth as another centre-back who was very much like his peers.

With no balance to the centre-half squadron, Hearts struggled defensively, particularly from set-pieces, as their European hopes went up in flames around them and ultimately cost Neilson his job.

Sibbick and Rowles were too alike and both suffered without an aggressive ball-winner beside them. But therein lies the problem for Sibbick at this moment in time. Rowles has rebounded well this season after the addition of Frankie Kent, who seeks to head away every ball that comes into his vicinity.

Rowles has not quite been at his 2023 form, including an excellent showing at the World Cup as Australia made eventual winners Argentina sweat for a passage through the last 16, but he's certainly enjoyed a bounce back from what he showed as 2022/23 came to a close. Sibbick, meanwhile, appears to have regressed further. The graphic below shows how the centre-half fared this season (blue) and compares it to his output from the previous campaign (red).

This observation isn't just formed by the eye-test, which is where a lot of Sibbick's foibles come to light: he's prone to switching off and his decision-making, as to when to pass and when to get rid, can sometimes be lacking, demonstrated by the concession of a goal in a loss at Ross County. But even in the raw data Sibbick is struggling in some key areas this campaign.

He wasn't the best aerially to begin with. For his career, he's posted a value in the mid-50s for the percentage of aerial duels won. Halkett, by comparison, had a whopping 82 per cent success rate in his last fully-fit campaign of 2021/22 (according to StatsBomb).

That said, it's typical for younger defenders to struggle in the air in their first few seasons of first-team football. They're no longer bigger and stronger than everyone else, as they typically would be at youth level, and strikers of all sizes are wily enough to give themselves an edge in the battle.

It's not always about height or jumping ability, there are little tricks to the trade that need to be learned over time. John Souttar is a good example of this, having been someone who was viewed as poor at winning headers with Dundee United prior to his Tynecastle move but is now one of the most dominant in the Scottish Premiership at Rangers. Take a look at the graphic below, which shows how Sibbick's performances this season (red) compare to the league average for Premiership centre-halves (blue).

Sibbick appeared to be improving in this regard last term, winning 61 per cent across the season, but he's crashed back down. His 48 per cent success rate this season is the worst of his career. The same goes for the number of interceptions he makes per match, which are at 0.88 per game, down from 1.27 last season.

He is improving in other areas. He is a defender who likes to step out and pressure opponents, makes tackles and doesn't give away many fouls. But in Scottish football we typically need our defenders to be good in the air and good at intercepting crosses, and Sibbick has fallen well short of the league average.

READ MORE: How Steven Naismith helped Kye Rowles rediscover his defensive mojo

This may seem like this writer is attempting to paint Sibbick in a negative light and that certainly isn't the intention. There are so many strengths to his game and so much potential in which to nurture: he's got a big, strong, athletic body; he's fast in a sprint; he's got poise on the football; he can move with the ball and carry it up the park; he can even be a destructive force in the final third for when he gets a head of steam going. And, best of all, he's only just turned 25. It's an age where we expect full-backs, midfielders and attackers to have reached their potential, but often centre-backs take that little bit longer to mature, especially those who struggle with concentration.

His versatility – he's ably filled in at right-back this campaign and can play in midfield – could mean he's kept around next term, even if he isn't envisioned as a first-team regular. There's a familiarity, which is typically something you want to harness around a defensive unit, while he is capable of putting in big performances. But if Hearts want to reinforce their centre-back corps, he is certainly the most likely candidate to make way.