Heart of Midlothian are the subject of significant investment interest involving Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom.

The club are in talks with Bloom and his sports analysis company Starlizard over a deal that could be worth £10million to Hearts.

Hearts Standard understands an external review of the club was carried out over the summer ahead of any such deal.

Bloom and his Starlizard company which takes "analysis of sport into a completely different league" would look to revolutionse the club's recruitment in what would be a shake-up of the current structure with sporting director Graeme Jones not coming into the role until November.

Unlike other deals within Scottish football, this would not see Hearts act as a feeder club or become affiliated to the Seagulls.

Bloom has transformed the south-coast club into a Premier League side since taking over in 2009. Back then they were a League One side but have just entered their eighth campaign in the English top flight and they played in Europe last season for the first time in the club's history.

They are renowned for their recruitment which has seen them bring players in from all across the world and make significant profits.

Bloom was also a majority shareholder in the unfashionable Belgian side Royale Union Saint-Gilloise who have been promoted to the country's top-flight since the takeover and qualified for Europe for the same season as Brighton. Bloom reduced his investment in USG to a minority stake to comply with UEFA's regulations.

The ultimate aim would be for Starlizard to become a minority shareholder at Tynecastle Park.

The Foundation of Hearts is the current majority shareholder and has two representatives on the club board. If it was to reduce it's 75.1 per cent stake it would require approval from 90 per cent of pledgers.

Outside investment would not be anything new to the club with the club having benefited from benefactor investment, including James Anderson.

Who are Starlizard?

Starlizard are data specialists:

"We analyse huge volumes of data in real-time to produce agile and adaptable models. These drive decisions across our business. The problems we solve are complex and require continuous iterations to ensure we remain ahead of the field."

The company use "information on every aspect of a sporting fixture to provide an unparalleled view of what’s happening on, and off, the pitch..." and "combine cutting-edge analytics with our expertise and passion for sport to produce world leading match predictions."