Steven Naismith has told Hearts fans that there will be more signings to come as Hearts prepare to welcome Calem Nieuwenhof.
The Gorgie outfit have agreed a six-figure fee with Western Sydney Wanderers for the defensive midfielder and are planning to announce his arrival once they have secured a work permit.
The 22-year-old impressed in starting all 27 of WSW’s games Down Under last season and had been tracked by a host of clubs this summer.
Amid an outstanding season, Nieuwenhof earned his maiden Australia under-23 outing at this summer’s Maurice Revello Tournament in France.
The Sydney-born player will become the fourth Aussie to join Hearts with Cammy Devlin, Kye Rowles and Nathanial Atkinson already at Tynecastle.
Hearts technical director Naismith, who last week made goalkeeper Michael McGovern the club’s first summer recruit, insists Hearts are planning to be busy in the transfer market.
Naismith said: “We’re in a good place, hopefully in the coming weeks we’ll have a few new additions, which then adds things up and then a couple of the boys who have been out injured are coming back as well.”
Hearts stepped up their preparations for the new season with a 3-0 closed door defeat at Wigan on Sunday in a game that was played across four 30 minute periods.
Despite the result, Naismith is happy with the progress the team are making under his and head coach Frankie McAvoy’s stewardship.
Naismith, who became the interim manager for the final seven games of last season following Robbie Neilson’s sacking, said: “It was a really good day in terms of a 120 minute game, we’ve gone through the toughest week of pre-season.
“The players have worked really hard and came into the game slightly fatigued.
"It’s part of the process and you can see a lot of the stuff we’re doing we’re getting more confident in, it’s becoming second nature rather than them thinking about it.
“In every game we’ve had we’ve been a threat although we’ve not had that last bit to get as many goals as I think we should have had.
“Fitness wise we’re coming on, the final bit of sharpness we’ve still to get.
“A lot of our movements, structure - all these things take time.
“We worked on it slightly last season but with pre-season you get much more time, it’s been a really intense three weeks, not had much time off.
“The work we're doing we’re now seeing on the pitch.”
