How Hearts seized a transfer window of opportunity - and what fans can expect from new signings

Hearts officials are entitled to recline in their luxury office chairs today and survey the fruits of their endeavours. The January window perhaps produced even more than expected.

For any Scottish Championship club, signing two international wingers, a Republic of Ireland midfield call-up and a big goal-hungry centre-forward amounts to pretty shrewd dealings.

Gary Mackay-Steven, Gervane Kastaneer, Aaron McEneff and Armand Gnanduillet are the respective new recruits looking to seize their transfer window of opportunity in Edinburgh.

Hours before Monday’s deadline, Kastaneer arrived on loan from Coventry City until the end of the season and McEneff joined for a six-figure fee from Shamrock Rovers. Mackay-Steven and Gnanduillet were already signed and playing, of course.

Beast of a striker

The quartet should significantly strengthen Hearts’ first-team squad as they pursue promotion. Mackay-Steven holds two Scotland caps, Kastaneer is a Curacao internationalist, McEneff received his first Republic call-up in November, and Gnanduillet is simply a beast of a striker who loves scoring.

None are players you would typically expect to find in the second tier of Scottish football, hence their appeal. Supporters are understandably eager to see Kastaneer and McEneff make their debuts, which may come on Friday night at Ayr United’s Somerset Park.

Both will be eased in gently. McEneff’s last competitive match was the Irish FA Cup final against Dundalk back on December 6. Kastaneer has managed only two substitute outings for Coventry all season – the most recent a seven-minute cameo at Sheffield Wednesday on December 19.

The Irishman was given a two-and-a-half-year contract by Hearts and could be exactly what they need once fully fit. His game centres around energy, aggression and technique, with plenty endeavour, hunger and an ability to get forward and score.

A traditional No.10 role suits him having played there many times at Shamrock. He plundered seven goals to help the Dublin club win the 2020 League of Ireland title and also faced AC Milan in the Europa League last September. He was Rovers’ best player in the 2-0 defeat at Tallaght.

McEneff now wants to make the step up to the Scottish Premiership this summer. His is the type of signing Hearts fans have complained that their club should be making: A 25-year-old box-to-box midfielder with the desire to impact games.

He boasts big-club experience having spent two years as a youth player with Tottenham Hotspur. After a brief trial at St Mirren, he joined Derry City in 2015. The last two years at Shamrock have seen him develop into one of the Irish league’s top performers.

Hearts sporting director Joe Savage admired McEneff for four years and finally got his man on Monday. He and manager Robbie Neilson also decided to take a chance on Kastaneer after winger Josh Ginnelly suffered a season-ending hamstring rupture.

Low-risk option

The 24-year-old represents an 11th-hour, low-risk option on what is effectively a three-month loan to the end of the Championship campaign. A fringe player at Coventry, he needs game time and can play on either flank or through the middle.

Kastaneer offers pace and physical presence at 6ft 1ins tall. Born in Rotterdam, he represented the Netherlands up to under-21 level before changing allegiance to win three full caps for the Caribbean island of Curacao.

Coventry signed him in 2019 after spells at clubs like ADO Den Haag, Kaiserslautern and NAC Breda. City’s head of recruitment Chris Badlan spoke highly of the player at the time.

“Being Dutch, he is obviously technical,” he said. “He’s a big, strong, powerful and pacy player who can play a variety of positions, and he’s an international player as well. He’s got all the ability to play anywhere really.

“He can play 7, 11 or 10. He can even lead the line. He’s just an attacking player. You don’t get right or left wingers in Holland. You just get wingers who can operate on either side.

“Technically he can go either way, onto his left foot or his right and I have seen him play down the middle as well.”

Mackay-Steven and Gnanduillet complete a foursome who should help Hearts conclude a Championship title win by April.

Fans were also keen to see a new centre-back paraded but that position remains covered for now. Craig Halkett, Mihai Popescu and Christophe Berra are the recognised central defenders but Peter Haring, Michael Smith and Stephen Kingsley can also play there.

Those options should be sufficient for the rest of this season. Strengthening that department will be necessary if Hearts want to impose themselves on next season’s Premiership, hence interest in a pre-contract deal for Kilmarnock’s Stuart Findlay.

Important business

Other recent pieces of important business include new contracts for the aforementioned full-backs, Smith and Kingsley.

January departures were always necessary to create space in Neilson’s first-team squad. Olly Lee’s loan move to Gillingham left a void now filled by McEneff, and deadline day saw wingers Lewis Moore and Jordan Roberts loaned to Arbroath and Motherwell respectively.

Arbroath also wanted striker Craig Wighton but he is considering his options ahead of a possible pre-contract agreement. Dunfermline lead the chase for his signature at the moment.

Moore didn’t get the opportunities he wanted at Hearts this season after impressing former manager Daniel Stendel. A move offers a fresh start, likewise Roberts.

The Englishman hasn’t ignited since arriving on a two-year contract last summer and had dropped out of Hearts’ matchday squad. He is in Scotland by himself and has endured a lonely existence due to lockdown which impacted his morale at times.

Fellow wide player Elliott Frear is also alone, his wife and daughter unable to travel from England. Such a situation will have affected both players although they know they are capable of better on the field.

Their long-term futures remain unclear, but four new recruits are now in place after a constructive January window as the Riccarton rebuild continues.

A message from the Editor: Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our sports coverage with a digital sports subscription.