Hearts to target attacking reinforcements in January as Tynecastle club brace for departure of key players.

The new head coach is eager to make his mark on the squad.

Hearts’ head coach, Neil Critchley, is hoping to acquire attacking reinforcements during the upcoming January transfer window. The Tynecastle club is now second bottom of the Scottish Premiership, barely a point ahead of city rivals Hibernian, and has the third-lowest amount of goals scored in the top flight with 14. Lawrence Shankland scored 31 goals in 47 club appearances last season, propelling them to third place, but the 29-year-old has only one goal in 2024/25.

• He isn’t the only striker Hearts have tried out this season; Kenneth Vargas, Liam Boyce, Musa Drammeh, and youngster James Wilson have all played in the position at some stage, but none of them have demonstrated consistent goal-scoring ability. With Shankland, Wilson, and Boyce all in the final year of their contracts, the Edinburgh Evening News says Critchley is looking for a new attacker in January. They do, however, state that the club is likely to “invoke their option to extend Wilson’s deal for at least another 12 months.” Shankland, who has been heavily linked with a move to Rangers over the last year, is expected to leave next summer when his contract ends.

The head coach, who took over for Steven Naismith in October, has previously praised the young setup, which could provide another opportunity for Hearts to identify an emerging gem. He went on: “We’ve got an exciting crop of youth who show all the qualities required to make it into the first-team environment.” The club’s CEO, Andrew McKinlay, had stated that the club’s agreement with Tony Bloom’s analytics firm will benefit the team immediately in the forthcoming window. When asked what he could reveal about the analytics, McKinlay told Hearts TV: “And we’ll be utilising it, and already are, for player identification, both in January and perhaps more fundamentally in the summer.

“Everyone can see who is out of contract so there might a fairly big overhaul come the summer. We’re already using it, we’re enjoying using it and I think it’s going to be a great success.”

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