Last week was a busy period at Tynecastle Park with Heart of Midlothian announcing four new signings and the brand-new away kit across the space of five days.
This week is expected to bring more transfer activity while the first-tem squad return for pre-season ahead of the much-anticipated 2024/25 campaign.
Steven Naismith has already added James Penrice, Blair Spittal, Daniel Oyegoke and Ryan Fulton to the squad. Yan Dhanda should be announced as a Hearts player this week and the club continue to work to bring in Costa Rican international Gerald Taylor. Hearts Standard understands progress has been made on adding another forward with Musa Drammeh set to join following his exit from Sevilla.
For the Hearts head coach, the squad is in a "really good" place. The addition of players early in the window is an important factor owing to Naismith's own experience from moving clubs while demonstrating how he wants recruitment to work.
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"I think we have improved," he told Hearts Standard following the arrival of Oyegoke. "Our squad is really good. We’ve improved in areas we felt we needed to, we’ve added individuals who I think make us better. On the whole, I think we are in a really strong position.
"I hold a lot of value in getting players in the building because from my personal experience, I needed time. No club I went to did I hit the ground running straight away. I needed time, I needed to be comfortable, I needed to have an understanding of what I was there to do. That’s really important.
"For us, it was really important from a recruitment side that it needs to be a 24/7 thing that’s consistent all year round so that when we are ready to move, we move and it gets done.
"In terms of the squad makeup, really good. We’ve got strength in loads of areas. With the additions we have brought in, we’ve got guys who have experience who will come in and impact the group quicker than others. We’ve then got areas of the pitch in terms of personnel that we’ve filled in."
Naismith also detailed the different areas and profiles that are considered ahead of each window.
"The categories we look at is our academy first of all, if are there players we think we can progress, make better and become assets," he said. "Second, can we bring younger players who have got potential and have maybe had a setback at a bigger level and we think they can be a good one that we can progress? [Then] more experienced players who will have a more instant impact and guys who have maybe lost their way that we think can bring them back into line.
"You need to constantly look at these different areas and the makeup of your squad."
As always Hearts will continue to monitor the market but the approach is likely one that is more reactive. Should a player who could "dramatically improve" the team become available the club would then consider moving for him. In addition, should a player be sold or move on that requires being replaced they will be.
As for possible departures, Naismith described the situation as "fluid", admitting that players leaving is a "real possibility".
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"As every window comes and players come in the competition for places gets greater, inevitably in football you can’t keep everyone happy so there might be some who feel they need to go and get some more minutes," he explained. "That’s just the nature of football. I think that’s a real possibility.
"There’s a makeup of a squad I am comfortable with, I like to work with and by the end of the window we will be at that point, it’s as simple as that. The squad will be at a certain level, that will be counted with the young players we think can make an impact this season and the rest of the squad. If anyone is beyond that and not going to be part of the plans it will be clear where they sit within the squad, their decision whether they want to move on or not. If they don’t, that’s football, that’s the way it is.
"It’s fluid, you can’t keep everyone happy, everybody needs to make their own decisions and we will work from there. That’s the way we did it last season and it worked fine and we’ll continue to do it that way."
The arrivals of Dhanda as well as Taylor and Drammeh if those deals are completed would take the squad size to 33. Naismith has previously spoken of a desire to have a squad of between 26 to 29 which includes between four to six younger players.
The Hearts head coach admitted that "inevitably with Europe you will keep an extra couple of bodies" but he doesn't see the squad size too different from last season.
"With us not having the injuries we started last season with in terms of [Liam] Boyce, [Craig] Halkett, Peter [Haring], Craigy [Gordon], we don’t need to hold players just in case these players don’t come back at the times they are expected," he said.
"We are probably sitting at a better place and as pre-season develops and everybody builds their fitness and their robustness of getting back into it the number won't overly change from last season.
"If there is something there to be done for somebody we think we don't really need right now but in a year's time it will become a priority, if we need to do that early we can do that early. There's a wee bit of movement there but on the whole, there won't be too much difference from last season."
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