Heart of Midlothian hope to wrap up their eighth summer signing in the coming days.

Steven Naismith is looking to strengthen the middle of the park following injuries to Beni Baningime and Calem Nieuwenhof. Both have struggled for any momentum during pre-season and are set to miss the start of the season.

The club are keen on Crystal Palace midfielder Malachi Boateng and are understood to be favourites to sign him. The 22-year-old spent last season on loan at Dundee and would provide depth to the No.6 position.

"Hopefully in the next few days we will get something over the line and sorted for that area," Naismith confirmed. 

"We've got Calem and Beni injured and that has caused us a big issue because they are our two most natural No.6s. We will look to do something."

With Baningime and Nieuwenhof unavailable, Macaulay Tait playing 90 minutes for the B team on Friday and Aidan Denholm on loan at Ross County, Blair Spittal was chosen as the deepest of the midfield three in the 3-0 friendly loss to Fleetwood Town. He lasted 45 minutes before Naismith made changes at half-time, changing from a 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2.

The 28-year-old, signed on a free contract deal following two years at Motherwell, has been versatile throughout his career. He has played as a winger, a wing-back and everywhere in the centre of the pitch. Last season was his best for output in terms of goals and assists, playing as one of two No.10s behind a striker at Fir Park.

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The Hearts head coach explained his reasoning behind Spittal's position. Well aware of what he can do further up the pitch he has been "trying to work out exactly the limits he has got".

"He can easily play in the forward positions, we know that, we know his quality from last season," Naismith said. "At the moment, with the injuries we've got, we need to find somebody who will sit in there.

"He has actually suffered the most out of everybody because we have asked him to play there when really that isn't where he wants to be on the pitch.

"Through pre-season, it gave me an opportunity to see if it's an area of the pitch where he can contribute when needed."