Robbie Neilson provides Hearts transfer update ahead of January window

Crucially, though, he is unwilling to lose any first-team players as he looks to cement the third place that Hearts are currently in. Such a finish would open the door to European football, a goal that is shared by the playing staff as well as the boardroom.  

“I’m confident,” said Neilson. “We’ve obviously got a number of players out of contract – but we’re not in a situation where we need to sell them.  

“I’ve had a chat with Joe [Savage] and the board. And we know that, unless somebody comes in willing to pay really big money for somebody, they’ll stay here until the end of the season. Because the objective this season is to get into Europe.  And that, financially, is worth a lot of money to the club – certainly enough to outweigh any mediocre bid we’re going to get for a player. 

“It’s good to be reassured on that front. We’ve got the Foundation here, we’ve got a strong board and financially we’re in a good position, so we don’t need to sell.  

“The important thing from the football side is we’re sitting in that European position right now. We need to be there at the end of the season to get the financial rewards from that, so we can build again.  It’s really important we don’t let anyone go for low bids. 

“The key now is keeping hold of good players and adding a few more as well. [The paperwork for Atkinson] is with the visa department in Australia, so he’s got his appointment right now and I expect him to be here for the start of January.” 

Barrie McKay has been among the positives for Hearts this season with Neilson urging the former Rangers winger to take his game to the next level by adding a few goals.  

“He’s a top player….one of the best in Scotland,” said the Hearts manager. He’s technically good, very quick – he just needs to add some goals to his game. When they do come, he’ll open things up.” 

While the Hearts players will have some downtime this week Neilson has warned them they cannot afford to switch off too much given the volume of games when the season gets back up and running. It is hoped that by next month when the season resumes that the Omicron Covid wave will have reduced sufficiently to allow supporters back into games, although that remains to be seen. 

Regardless, the lack of free dates means that it is an intense schedule now to fulfil all fixtures.  

“As soon as we hit the St Johnstone game, we’ve got eight or nine games in the space of three-and-a-half weeks,” he said.  “Everybody needs to be fit because we’ll need to rotate the squad.   

“It’s good to get the break so we can get some recuperation, get some players in – and hopefully get some fans in as well. The boys will train most of this week, then get a bit of time off and come back ready.” 

Essentially, though, it will be more of the same that Neilson is looking for from his squad. Promoted after a difficult Championship campaign last term the Tynescastle side have played as though they have had a point to prove. They started their campaign with a win over Celtic on the opening night of the campaign and have been fairly consistent since. The third best defensive record in the country, it has been an impressive opening half to the campaign. 

“I’m pleased with it,” said Neilson. “We are sitting five points clear in third place and if you had offered us that at the start of the season, we would have taken that. There have been games where we could’ve done better, games we could have picked up points, but all in all it has been a decent start to the season.  

“We have a good team here but you never really know until you come up. You can look at your team and think you are comfortable here or there but it is a big jump and doing it consistently, week in, week out, and thankfully the players I have brought in have added to it and it is up to me and Joe to add more.”