Steven Naismith thrilled Hearts are ‘ahead of the game’ in building for future

Steven Naismith is delighted that proactive Hearts have got themselves “ahead of the game” as they build towards next season.

It has emerged in recent months that the Tynecastle club have agreed pre-contracts with Ross County playmaker Yan Dhanda, Motherwell midfielder Blair Spittal and Livingston left-back James Penrice.

In addition, Hearts, who are currently 11 points clear in third place in the cinch Premiership, announced this week that they have secured the services of Kenneth Vargas on a five-year deal after the Costa Rica forward initially joined on loan from Herediano in his homeland.

“I’m not going to talk about individual players (who have agreed pre-contracts), but one of the biggest things I took from when I was a player here was that the turnover of players each season, and when that happened, was so reactive,” said Hearts boss Naismith.

“We can’t be reactive, we want to be ahead of the game. We want to be in a position where we know the areas within the next year to 18 months we might need to strengthen, whether it be for competition for places, because we feel somebody might move on, or somebody’s coming to the end.

“For whatever reason, you need to try and be a good year ahead. I feel last summer, getting the signings in was a wee bit later than we wanted. In January, we did it well, we got the players in early doors that we wanted.

“With the general progression of your squad, you need to constantly keep trying to develop the players that are here, improve in areas that you want to, and do it as quickly as you can.

“It’s never going to be perfect, it’s not been perfect, but we’ll do as much homework and research as we can to get the deals done.

“The two windows I’ve been involved in have taught us that the quicker you get players in, the more comfortable they get in their surroundings quicker, and they understand what you want from them. For signings, we want to do things as quickly as we can.”

It is rare for Hearts to hand players a five-year contract but Naismith feels 21-year-old Vargas, who made his Costa Rica debut last year and who has scored seven goals for the Jambos this term, is worthy of such a show of faith.

“The length of contract is because he’s a big prospect,” said the Hearts boss. “He’s a Costa Rican international and we’ve helped him become that guy who has got in the national team, albeit in the early stages of that.

“But what he’s shown this year, ability-wise, his performances, his character, he ticks every box we want in a signing.

“He’s hungry, he’s not somebody who’s going to sign a five-year contract and think he’s made it, he wants to get to the next level, he wants to get to major tournaments with his country and he wants to be an all-round better player. He wants to go far in the game and I believe he can.”