This time last week Heart of Midlothian supporters were preparing for the arrival of Yan Dhanda. In the three days previous, the club had announced James Penrice, Ryan Fulton and Blair Spittal. It was figured that the fourth and final announcement of the 'pre-contract four' would see the playmaker unveiled.

There was an unveiling. Just not the one anyone expected.

Hearts are keen to keep all new arrivals on the down low to surprise supporters with a signing. At 4.45pm they did just that with a teaser: "It's been a busy week for Admin so we're just gonna have a wee rest. Bee Right Back..."

Five minutes later, Daniel Oyegoke was the name on everyone's lips, joining the club from Brentford B on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

While the announcement came out of the blue, the 21-year-old had been on the club's radar for some time with the view of strengthening the right-hand side of the defence. He arrived at Hearts via Barnet, Arsenal and Brentford B where he also had two loan spells at MK Dons and Bradford City.

"He’s somebody we have spoken about, constantly monitored and reviewed," Naismith told Hearts Standard. "He was a player we could get a lot of feedback on in terms of his character and that was all good. He’s played with or worked with people we have good connections to. That was clear, as a person and character, he is somebody who would fit in with what we produce.

"He’s had a good youth career in terms of where he has played, at Arsenal’s academy and the international setup. For any player that is a good grounding.

"He came up against a lot of good talent and through those periods as a young player, you learn a lot. Some develop really quickly, some take their time. Just being there and seeing that gives you an understanding of how ruthless football can be, how quickly it can change and also the progression comes at different stages.

"Then to be going into Brentford. Brentford are a really good club with an appetite to progress players, to develop players. Not in your conventional way. On the whole, it is a really good club."

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Few are better placed to discuss Oyegoke's progress than Neil MacFarlane. The former Hearts midfielder is Brentford B head coach. 

The recruitment team at the Bees had seen "really, really good potential" in the defender when they signed him from Arsenal as an 18-year-old in 2021 when he still had time on his contract. It was felt the pathway wasn't there for him at the English giants.

"We worked with him continuously over the last few years and we’ve seen real growth in him, both in terms of the time he has been with us and then he went out on loan to MK," MacFarlane told Hearts Standard.

"He came back [halfway through the season] and we kept him in the building to try and touch up on a couple of things that again we thought could take his game further onto another level. He was a huge part of the team that won the Premier League Cup with us that year. It was a great achievement for us but also for him. Then he moved forward into the season [just past] and had a loan move at Bradford."

The development was three-fold: Physically, defensively and mentally.

 "Naturally, year on year, through strength and conditioning and all the work on the training ground with us he gets bigger and bigger, stronger and stronger," MacFarlane said. "He is a really fit, physical, good specimen.

"In terms of the basics in defending and aspects of the game they are the bits he has improved on the most during his period with us and the period of his loans. He has become a really strong defender in terms of his aerial capacity which was probably a bit limited when he first came to us. We worked really, really hard on that and I think the loans have also helped.

"Then just his leadership in the group. He was a real leader in the team that went on to win the Premier League Cup and played really well for us that season. When he went out for his second loan and talking to them he became even more mature. That just comes with experience, it has nothing to do with coaching."

Positionally, it is difficult to pigeonhole Oyegoke. The player himself said: "Anywhere on the right side".

Starting out as a forward, he moved back at the request of German World Cup winner Per Mertesacker at Arsenal and has since played plenty of minutes on the right of a back three, as a full-back in a four-man defence and a wing-back.

That versatility was "appealing" to Naismith. Considering last season and the formations played, he'd fit into all of him. His presence allows for a switch of system without too much disruption. 

Tom Irving's view

When it comes to the data, his versatility makes things difficult. Without splitting his data up by position played it can be hard to get an accurate representation of the player. For example, a central defender will usually be involved in much more aerial duels than a wide defender so when we look at Oyegoke’s aerial duel data he will show up well in comparison to full-backs, but not so much in comparison to central defenders. As we expect him to fill that right-sided defender role, I’ve decided to compare him to full-backs.

Defensively, we see a player who wins a high percentage of his defensive duels, leaving him in the 86th in comparison with wide defenders in the league. His involvement in a high number of aerial duels with a low ranking for his aerial duel win rate may look bad on paper but is one of the things that can be explained by the versatility of his position. He likely came up against bigger and better players in the air when playing in the centre of defence, so when comparing him to full-backs he would look worse off. Oyegoke ranks highly for interceptions and successful defensive actions, something that Hearts fans will be encouraged to see.

In possession, the Englishman ranks highly for successful passes and is involved in a fair amount of them. In fact, he ranks well for his success rate of forward passes and passes to the final third, though he isn’t involved in as many of them as his peers. A player who doesn’t cross the ball very often, but ranks highly for crossing accuracy, sitting in the 90th percentile for that metric.

Most encouragingly, we see encouraging data when we look at him dribbling with the ball at his feet. He dribbles often, accelerates with the ball often, and runs progressively with the ball more than 90 per cent of other full-backs. Questions are to be asked about his success rate, but that could be a result of trying to take on one extra man instead of releasing the ball, something that can be easily fixed with good coaching. His eagerness to progress the ball forward is something that will be great to see on the right side of our defence.

Even though it is hard to really delve into the data of a player who plays in multiple positions, there are encouraging signs to be seen.

"As a team, he fits us because he is versatile, he’s got good physicality, he’s a good athlete in terms of up and down the pitch," Naismith said. "He’s done that a lot in his career, played in different positions, which gives him an understanding of it.

"The way we want to play, the way players are positioned on the pitch can be difficult for some but those attributes in terms of him having an understanding of the positions but secondly, he’s calm enough to take the ball, he wants to take the ball, he’s not rushed. His whole demeanour as a person is very calm and very chilled. I think you can see that on the pitch at times."

At Arsenal, he would be viewed mostly as a full-back with his ability to get up and down the pitch. At Brentford, where they have such a keen eye on development and specifics, there was extra work on the defensive side as well as his crossing.

For MacFarlane, Oyegoke grew into one particular position.

"If you were asking me what I believe can take him forward… the drive he has from the outside of a back three when he was with us was fantastic and I know he did that with Bradford as well.

"If he plays further up it's adding to his game in terms of that end product. If he plays at full-back that’ll be the same. He definitely has the capacity to do all three."

Hearts had to fight off plenty of competition for his signature. But, as both Naismith and MacFarlane, noted, the club have so much going for them. The size, the stadium, the city, European football.

It also helped to have a former player able to share his experience. A former player who retains a strong affection for the club. And, despite there still being time on his deal at Brentford and having trained a number of times with the first-team, it was deemed "now was the right time for him to take the next step at a brilliant club". 

Neil MacFarlane coached Daniel Oyegoke at Brentford BNeil MacFarlane coached Daniel Oyegoke at Brentford B (Image: SNS)

"Huge interest in him from many, many clubs," MacFarlane revealed. "I have a brilliant relationship with Daniel, I’ve spoken to him in the last few days. He is thoroughly looking forward to staying in Edinburgh, it is an amazing city.

"We spoke a lot about the club, it’s one of the highlights of my career playing for that football club. It’s an amazing football club that will demand a lot of him and that’s the bit we spoke about as well. He’s going to have to realise that and also be strong in that mindset and want to keep improving and be the best because it is a hugely demanding support but an amazing football club for him to go and play with. I told him with no hesitation he should not pass that chance up.

"The attraction is the club, the size of the club, the city, the passion and playing in front of 17, 18, 19,000 every week. I explained all that to him. He is hugely excited by the move and so he should be because what a brilliant opportunity for him. If he can go up there and do well, hopefully he can achieve really good things with Hearts, and like any player will have ambitions to keep moving on in his career."

Compared to the grind below the Premier League in England, Hearts are an easy sell. Even more so when players can be given a clear idea from their new head coach of the project at the club and the vision for their own trajectory.

"He had a few options but we’re a good club," Naismith said. "We’ve got a lot of things that we can offer players. In the last year, we have proved a lot in terms of what we have done with individual players, what we’ve done with youth players, where we finished in the league, what that brings.

"So we’ve got a lot of value and as long as we can be honest with the players and tell them what they are coming to, the demand at the club, how we can improve them, what we expect from them... For any player, that’s what you want to hear. They will make a decision that suits their career best and I’m delighted Daniel picked us."