The general consensus amongst Heart of Midlothian fans regarding the transfer priority before the window closes on Friday night is a striker to provide support to Lawrence Shankland.
Hearts have added nine players this summer but only one forward player while Kyosuke Tagawa has left. It is not expected to be a busy week of transfer business but the club will monitor the market between now and 11pm on Friday when the window closes.
Hearts Standard tasked contributor Tom Irving, a recruitment analyst for Finnish top-flight side SJK Seinajoki, to suggest possible options. Tom searched very far and very wide, coming up with six suggestions. Here there are in reverse order with the best option last:
6. Felipe Pasadore
The 24-year-old Argentinian is somewhat of an anomaly. Prior to the 2023 season, I struggled to find any information on games he had played. He came through the ranks in the B team of an Argentinian third-tier club but seems to not have played for the first team before earning a move to the B team of Belgrano, an Argentinian Premier Division side. He didn’t make a first-team appearance for Belgrano before moving to a club in the top division in Bolivia. He played 19 games in 2023, scoring 13 goals and in 2024 he played 18 games, scoring 14 goals and getting four assists to help the club win the Apertura section of the league and qualify for the Copa Libertadores.
As a player, he doesn’t contribute a vast amount in the build-up but comes into his own in the final third. He shoots often and accurately, with a goal conversion rate of 29.17 per cent, a shooting accuracy of 62.5 per cent, and 0.80 non-penalty goals per game, all three the highest in the league amongst strikers. Out of possession, he does well to get involved in duels and intercepts balls regularly.
He can be categorised as a bit of a “punt” due to his lack of first-team football at the age of 24. With him currently unattached, it could be a simple and straightforward signing.
5. Reginaldo Ramires
Ramires currently plies his trade in Latvia. The 23-year-old went on loan to Auda FC from Riga FC in 2023, scored 10 and assisted three in 16 games. He stayed at Auda for the first half of the 2024 season, scoring 13 and assisting one in 16 games before being recalled. At Riga this season he’s scored five and provided one assist in five games.
He’s a small electric forward with a similar style to Vargas. The main differences between the two are that he’s more clinical in front of goal and better in the air. It might be a bit of a risk to spend money on a player very similar to Vargas who is a year older when there are hopes of Vargas being better than that by the age of 23.
The main priority is scoring goals this season though, so that could be a deciding factor. With one of the best non-penalty goals per 90 in the league mostly scored whilst spending time at a mid-table club, he knows where the back of the net is. There could be questions asked about the differences in standard between Scotland and Latvia, but I believe he has what it takes to contribute goals at the Scottish Premiership level.
4. Phil Harres
The 22-year-old German was rewarded for his fine form in the 23/24 season in the fourth tier of German football with a move to Holstein Keil in the German second tier this summer. He got some minutes in pre-season but was left out of the squad for the first two competitive games of the season, instead playing twice for the B team.
If Harres can’t push for regular game time at Keil, they may look to get him competitive football elsewhere, and a club in European football until Christmas would be a brilliant place for him to develop. He is what I would describe as a big, old-school No.9, standing at 6ft3in. He is athletic, knows where the back of the net is, and scores a wide variety of goals. He isn’t going to drop deep and provide the link-up play that Shankland does but will contribute goals to Hearts with his good positioning and finishing ability, proven by scoring 28 goals in all competitions last season.
The club may not want to develop another team's player, but it’s very hard to buy goals. He takes 3.29 shots a game, converts 30.77 per cent, and scores 1.01 non-penalty goals per 90 minutes. I don’t think Harres would replace Shankland but would be a great option if a goal is needed. Shankland often gets drawn deep and a pairing of the two of them would leave Hearts with a natural finisher in the penalty box as well as allowing Shankland available to drop deeper.
3. Adrian Kapralik
If you asked me to describe Kapralik in four words, I’d say he’s a “Speedy Slovak Jamie Walker”. He plays in a way where I’m not 100 per cent sure of his best position, having played upfront, on the wing, and in the No.10 regularly.
He’s got fantastic footwork and ability to get past a man, a great turn of pace, and an excellent eye for goal. He’s got a good footballing brain and can pick out a pass, regularly getting himself involved in the build-up and creating chances for team mates.
For me, Kapralik wouldn’t be a straight replacement for Tagawa but more of a utility player. Do you need a quick winger who can go at players? Adrian is your man. Could you do with someone to play off Shankland like Vargas does? Kapralik can do that. Do you need someone to use their pace to run in behind? Yep, you guessed it, the one and only Adrian Kapralik.
Currently, he’s back playing in Slovakia after a pretty successful loan at Polish club Gornik Zabrze, scoring seven goals and providing three assists. Zilina are known for developing quality players so may take a fair bit of financial persuasion, but I think he’d be within the club's budget and one that could contribute in the short term as well as being sold on for a lot more in the future.
2. Rafaelson Bezerra Fernandes
After spending some fairly average spells at clubs in Brazil, Japan and Denmark, Rafaelson finally made himself at home in Vietnam. Since the start of 2023, he’s scored 47 league goals in 42 games.
Now the Vietnamese league isn’t a terrifically high standard, but we can use Opta rankings to give us a bit more of a clue about how it stands up against our own league. From this, we can see that the Vietnamese league probably sits around the bottom of the Scottish Premiership level and mixes in across the Scottish Championship. If there was a player who had his scoring record in the Scottish Championship, he’d be a target for every player in the Premiership.
What’s most impressive about his goalscoring is the type of goals that he scores. Of his 31 goals this season, eight have been headers, one has been a ridiculous overhead kick, and the rest have been a mix of good strikes, penalty box striker-type goals, and good runs to get on the end of through passes.
The Brazilian scores 1.1 non-penalty goals per game, assists 0.23 goals per game, has a goal conversion rate of 26.79 per cent, and takes 4.38 shots per game. He’s involved with a large number of duels, winning a fair amount of them, is built like a bodybuilder and knows how to use his body to his advantage.
Signing a Brazilian from Vietnam maybe wasn’t on everybody’s transfer bingo card for the summer, but fans would enjoy him if he was signed.
1. Styven Vasquez
A 21-year-old El Salvadoran currently plying his trade in his homeland. His glowing form in 2023/24 has helped him amass 10 caps for the national team already and led to him being the top scorer in El Salvador Primera Division with 15 goals and one assist in 21 games in the Clausura stage of the tournament.
The league is a similar standard to Costa Rica, so compared to Vargas’ five goals and three assists in 19 games in his last Clausura season, Vasquez seems a no-brainer.
Stylistically he’s different from anything Hearts have at the moment. He’s big, strong, and physically imposing. He’s quick over long distances and agile over short. He’s got a good touch, turns on the ball well, can play a long pass and is a great finisher. He drops deep to link up play and plays off the shoulder, making runs in behind the defence.
As you can see from the sea of green on his graph, he can really do it all. At the age of 21, he has an extremely high ceiling. Some fans may want to opt for a more ready-made replacement with years of experience, but Vasquez already plays like he’s been around for years.
I believe if Hearts look at signing him in the winter window, there will be much bigger clubs vying for his signature.
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