Steven Naismith is hoping to add to his Heart of Midlothian squad either today or tomorrow, he revealed.

It is expected that Hearts will complete the signing of midfielder Malachi Boateng on a permanent deal from Crystal Palace.

The 22-year-old would provide greater depth at the base of the midfield. He has spent the last two seasons on loan in Scottish football, first with Queen's Park and then with Dundee.

Should he sign, he could feature against Rangers in the opening game of the Scottish Premiership season.

"We'll hopefully have one more in today or tomorrow that will improve us," he told Sky Sports.

"There has been a lot of work in the last two or three days to try and get the deal over the line. It will hopefully get done in time to have him involved for the weekend."

Naismith was speaking ahead of the start of the new season which kicks off on Saturday at Tynecastle in front of the Sky Sports cameras.

The Hearts head coach explained the importance of getting his transfer business done early and what the club's status would be regarding the rest of the window if they added signing number eight.

Read more

"We are happy we got them in," he said of the early recruitment. "It makes a difference, the longer the players are here the more settled they become. That was important, we learned that from last pre-season.

He added: "After that, for us, it is more about reacting to anything that happens. In football in general you can't plan for things that are unexpected. We do as much planning as we can but you need to be reactive on that front."