With less than a month to go until the Scottish Premiership season kicks off, Heart of Midlothian have failed to make one signing during the transfer window.
The club have already lost winger Josh Ginnelly, midfielder Orestis Kiomourtzoglou and Michael Smith among others as Steven Naismith’s squad has been weakened with these departures.
The Jambos also failed to lure winger Sammy Silvera to the club, as he eventually joined Middlesborough, while Japanese defender Riku Handa was thought of as a target, however, talks broke down with the youngster and he won't be moving to Scotland this summer.
It isn’t just domestic football that Naismith has to get his side ready for, with the qualifiers for the Europa Conference League taking place in a few weeks and if the Tynecastle outfit holds any ambitions of reaching the group stages for the second year in a row, a few players will need to be signed.
One player who has been linked with the club is Wigan Athletic attacking midfielder Jamie McGrath, as Hearts look to lure the player to Edinburgh on a permanent deal. The 26-year-old has just one year left on his Latics contract and this could allow Naismith to come in with a knockdown fee for the player, especially if he doesn’t feature in their plans next season.
Will Jamie McGrath be Hearts' first summer signing?
The Republic of Ireland international has made just four appearances for Wigan, failing to make an impact at the club since joining from St Mirren back in 2022, yet his spell at Dundee United last term indicates that he could solve Naismith’s key problem at Hearts.
With goals mainly coming from Lawrence Shankland (28) and Ginnelly (ten) last season, the loss of the latter, plus the fact the manager has just two attacking midfielders to choose from, clearly suggests McGrath would slot nicely into that slot in the first team.
McGrath was in stunning form for the Arabs last term, registering 12 goal contributions across all competitions – nine goals and three assists – which is made even more impressive considering they were relegated to the Championship and his statistics over a number of metrics proved he was a highly influential member of the side.
He ranked first for big chances created (five), key passes per game (1.6) and overall Sofascore rating (7.08/10), while finishing in second place for goals scored (eight) and there is no doubt he could solve their attacking problems ahead of next season.
Upon joining the Arabs last summer, journalist Josh Bunting lauded the Irishman as a “quality addition back into the league” and he was certainly proven correct judging by his statistics from the 2022/23 campaign.
The eight-cap midfielder won't be wanting to occupy the bench at Wigan next season and a chance to move to Hearts could see him gain regular game time at a club who will be looking to finish the season behind Rangers and Celtic in third spot. With European football taking place at Tynecastle once again, it should prove an opportunity too good to turn down.
