Heart Of Midlothian summer transfer window 2026 - Josh McPake signed

[soonbe110]

2 hours ago, OTT said:

 

Findlay is 30 and will be 31 next season. Freckleton is only 22 (and looks shit hot for his age) and then Graham is Utd's captain at 24 and a 6"6 unit. 

 

I think both would be very good acquisitions TBH. 

Need better imo.   We are moving beyond bottom half SPFL levels.   Will be surprised if we sign many players from Scottish clubs in next couple of years. We made the mistake a couple of years ago of signing the stars from the bottom half teams.  Only Penrice really worked for us. And we are operating at a much higher level now than then. 

[Duggie 1874]

On 03/02/2026 at 11:52, Romulus said:

Leonard should be a priority with the possibility of cammy and Beni going.

He has played 3 games , tidy in a couple and poor night last game , I’m not sure that suddenly makes him a priority ,,” would need a far bigger sample size than that 

[soonbe110]

On 03/02/2026 at 15:56, JimmyCant said:

Probably more a question of how he sees a move back in terms of career. On the face of it it’s a backward step, but he might think he’ll get more exposure coming back here and he’d be a first choice judging on what we’ve seen so far so he’ll get a second bite at a big move down the line.

 

Hes a future international IMO

Chance of league title, Scottish cap, almost guaranteed uefa football, back home, future club captain (ok, that’s maybe taking it a bit far) but certainly a lot going for it.  At 24, 18-24 months doing really well with us puts him right back in the  frame for a bigger move down south or abroad. 

[selkirkhmfc1874]

Be plenty turnover again in the summer no doubt 

[Agentjambo]

Does anyone think we will spend bigger on transfer fees this summer?

[19/05/2012]

37 minutes ago, Agentjambo said:

Does anyone think we will spend bigger on transfer fees this summer?

think Graeme jones has previously said majority of our signings will be free agents but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a big fee spent on one player every summer 

[johnking123]

41 minutes ago, Agentjambo said:

Does anyone think we will spend bigger on transfer fees this summer?

We will have to sell. Braga and couple others sold. Then go shopping.

[Ricardo Quaresma]

How about Zee's 'wee' 1.97M pacy wee brother?

 

https://www.transfermarkt.com/lequincio-zeefuik/profil/spieler/728864

[JJ1984]

Leonard is on loan to shop window himself and make Birmingham money, they aren't going to give him to us for peanuts if there's other clubs interested.  

[Shankland31]

1 hour ago, Duggie 1874 said:

He has played 3 games , tidy in a couple and poor night last game , I’m not sure that suddenly makes him a priority ,,” would need a far bigger sample size than that 

Disagree, he’s class.

 

Priority will be a striker seeing as we didn’t get one in January and we’re already feeling it. 
 

Personally feel that mistake could cost us big time.

[The Maroon Jacket]

23 minutes ago, Shankland31 said:

Disagree, he’s class.

 

Priority will be a striker seeing as we didn’t get one in January and we’re already feeling it. 
 

Personally feel that mistake could cost us big time.

It wasn't a mistake if we tried our best to bring in the one's we wanted January being the hardest window to deal as no club wants to lose their best players without having a replacement or stupid money involved 

Let's hope our new additions contribute to a grande finale in our quest for the title 

[Shankland31]

10 minutes ago, The Maroon Jacket said:

It wasn't a mistake if we tried our best to bring in the one's we wanted January being the hardest window to deal as no club wants to lose their best players without having a replacement or stupid money involved 

Let's hope our new additions contribute to a grande finale in our quest for the title 

It would have to be quite a bit to be stupid money given the context. We can only hope aye

[Pasquale for King]

2 hours ago, soonbe110 said:

Need better imo.   We are moving beyond bottom half SPFL levels.   Will be surprised if we sign many players from Scottish clubs in next couple of years. We made the mistake a couple of years ago of signing the stars from the bottom half teams.  Only Penrice really worked for us. And we are operating at a much higher level now than then. 

Not sure OTT got that memo, he’s been talking up a few guys nowhere near the quality we require to upgrade the CH pool.

[NottsJambo]

2 hours ago, soonbe110 said:

Need better imo.   We are moving beyond bottom half SPFL levels.   Will be surprised if we sign many players from Scottish clubs in next couple of years. We made the mistake a couple of years ago of signing the stars from the bottom half teams.  Only Penrice really worked for us. And we are operating at a much higher level now than then. 

 

Milne worked out well, and we've already got McPake coming in. Think JTA will mean fewer of those mistakes (although I was delighted with Dandha and Spittal when they came).

[Pasquale]

11 minutes ago, NottsJambo said:

 

Milne worked out well, and we've already got McPake coming in. Think JTA will mean fewer of those mistakes (although I was delighted with Dandha and Spittal when they came).

Dhanda played very well in last night's game.

[jamboinglasgow]

1 hour ago, 19/05/2012 said:

think Graeme jones has previously said majority of our signings will be free agents but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a big fee spent on one player every summer 

 

Yup, we have 3 players signed up on a pre-contract for next season (admittedly one we have paid a loan fee this season, but as far as next season it is a free.) The fact our left wing will be sorted for next season for at most £500k (depending on what Mato's loan fee is) where we will most likely sell our current left winger for millions is very positive. Means the money raised can be used to improve other areas.

 

It also wouldn't surprise me if we have a few other players tied up with pre-contracts (either now or the months coming.)

 

I think something worth pointing out that while we also concentrate on the Ageu breaking our transfer record, I think people miss out that Altena's reported fee would have broken our transfer record prior to the Ageu signing (Transfermarkt put both Beslika and Altena as €1.2m, but back in 2006 that was £850k, now this year that is £1m. They also say John Robertson from Newcastle to Hearts was €1.5m but not counting that as it never is reported as our biggest fee prior to Ageu signing.) So we are clearly happy to pay big fees.

 

I do agree with others, I do think we will break the transfer record in the summer.

[gordon simpson]

On 03/02/2026 at 11:52, Romulus said:

Leonard should be a priority with the possibility of cammy and Beni going.

[soonbe110]

36 minutes ago, Pasquale for King said:

Not sure OTT got that memo, he’s been talking up a few guys nowhere near the quality we require to upgrade the CH pool.

👍

[soonbe110]

34 minutes ago, NottsJambo said:

 

Milne worked out well, and we've already got McPake coming in. Think JTA will mean fewer of those mistakes (although I was delighted with Dandha and Spittal when they came).

Milne and McPake from lower leagues.  Both largely unknown to Hearts fans until we signed them   Different approach to signing the best from your immediate competitors. Milne has been great.  Jury out on McPake. 

[SkabalaJam]

3 hours ago, soonbe110 said:

Need better imo.   We are moving beyond bottom half SPFL levels.   Will be surprised if we sign many players from Scottish clubs in next couple of years. We made the mistake a couple of years ago of signing the stars from the bottom half teams.  Only Penrice really worked for us. And we are operating at a much higher level now than then. 

We will need a Scottish core of players, where else are we getting them from? Milne has done ok, McPake for next season. Both from Championship. JTA will be able to better identify what we need from SPFL. 

[soonbe110]

1 minute ago, SkabalaJam said:

We will need a Scottish core of players, where else are we getting them from? Milne has done ok, McPake for next season. Both from Championship. JTA will be able to better identify what we need from SPFL. 

We will need some but my point was the bulk of our hiring will not be from Scotland.  Hiring from Scot premiership  teams will always be over-priced for us.  Might find some bargains in lower leagues that can make the step up like Milne but as our standards grow this is less likely.  If we are to seriously challenge and succeed against Rangers and Celtic every season we won’t be signing many players rom Scotland. Neither of those teams have many Scots playing for them. Similar to England - epl teams don’t have many English players playing for them. 

[Rudy T]

Maybe go and get Barney Stewart from Falkirk. Young talented boy, take a chance on him could be the new Shanks.

[davieholt]

52 minutes ago, jamboinglasgow said:

 

Yup, we have 3 players signed up on a pre-contract for next season (admittedly one we have paid a loan fee this season, but as far as next season it is a free.) The fact our left wing will be sorted for next season for at most £500k (depending on what Mato's loan fee is) where we will most likely sell our current left winger for millions is very positive. Means the money raised can be used to improve other areas.

 

It also wouldn't surprise me if we have a few other players tied up with pre-contracts (either now or the months coming.)

 

I think something worth pointing out that while we also concentrate on the Ageu breaking our transfer record, I think people miss out that Altena's reported fee would have broken our transfer record prior to the Ageu signing (Transfermarkt put both Beslika and Altena as €1.2m, but back in 2006 that was £850k, now this year that is £1m. They also say John Robertson from Newcastle to Hearts was €1.5m but not counting that as it never is reported as our biggest fee prior to Ageu signing.) So we are clearly happy to pay big fees.

 

I do agree with others, I do think we will break the transfer record in the summer.

im pretty certain that John Robertson’s return to Tynecastle was funded by an Asian businessman who had a shop in Gorgie. My memory is that a fee of £0.5m was paid. Goodness knows what that would be in today’s money 

[S Form]

Not sure Leonard has done enough so far to confirm that he’d be an upgrade on Devlin and Beni. I’d want to see more from him before we made any commitments.

[cazzyy]

30 minutes ago, davieholt said:

im pretty certain that John Robertson’s return to Tynecastle was funded by an Asian businessman who had a shop in Gorgie. My memory is that a fee of £0.5m was paid. Goodness knows what that would be in today’s money 

 

Pretty sure the fee paid was only slightly different from what we sold him for if not the same (£625k), it was his salary that the fruit and veg guy (Daher?) paid.

[Chuck Berry]

On 03/02/2026 at 07:25, tiger Rudi said:

Luke Graham would be someone we could be interested in. Won't be cheap but Dhanda going the other way as some kind of makeweight would bring his price down a little bit. 

He might not represent good value through JTA though, as he's hardly an unknown commodity now.

 

Apparently we have been monitoring Luke Graham (so presumably ticks a few JTA boxes) and at 21 he'd be a really good signing.  That said, Dundee reportedly turned down £1m+ from Pompey last week, how true that is who knows but there are English clubs monitoring him as well eg QPR, and we may baulk at that asking price.  Has a year left on his contract.

 

 

[davie1980]

6 hours ago, vegas-voss said:

The 3 goals is it 2 against us and one against Hibs.Seems to hate Edinburgh 🤣

 

Edinburgh obviously his favourite place.

 

Right now he only gets to score in away fixtures. Sign for the Hearts and he gets to score here every other week!

[Jamboross]

I see Riga have gone and signed Andres Salazar, hopefully Ramires doesn't ask him anything about his time at Hearts if we show interest again! 

[gregzy2k7]

4 hours ago, JJ1984 said:

Leonard is on loan to shop window himself and make Birmingham money, they aren't going to give him to us for peanuts if there's other clubs interested.  

I reckon we could get him for 2m+ 

If he does well and shows his quality here then why not ? The only issue would then be wages imo.

[cosanostra]

4 minutes ago, gregzy2k7 said:

I reckon we could get him for 2m+ 

If he does well and shows his quality here then why not ? The only issue would then be wages imo.

 

I don't think we'll be paying anything like that for him because there's no value for money in it for us. I'd imagine £500 - 600k or something at most. He'd also have to play way better than his last game to justify that. 

He'll probably get offers with higher pay from division 1 and lower championship clubs anyway. Not based on anything but I think he'll want to stay in England.

[tiger Rudi]

7 hours ago, Chuck Berry said:

 

Apparently we have been monitoring Luke Graham (so presumably ticks a few JTA boxes) and at 21 he'd be a really good signing.  That said, Dundee reportedly turned down £1m+ from Pompey last week, how true that is who knows but there are English clubs monitoring him as well eg QPR, and we may baulk at that asking price.  Has a year left on his contract.

 

 

I think the way Dhanda is playing just now they would be keen on a deal that included him going the other way. Dhanda would have to agree to a permanent move though. 

[Horatio Caine]

2 hours ago, tiger Rudi said:

I think the way Dhanda is playing just now they would be keen on a deal that included him going the other way. Dhanda would have to agree to a permanent move though. 

Just a thought...Dhanda clearly playing well in a role that suits him. Is there any chance he may come back and be a part of our plans? Or is he too `lightweight` for Del's purposes?

[tiger Rudi]

31 minutes ago, Horatio Caine said:

Just a thought...Dhanda clearly playing well in a role that suits him. Is there any chance he may come back and be a part of our plans? Or is he too `lightweight` for Del's purposes?

Not the kind of player Del wants I'd say. Club maybe too big for him. He does well at the likes of Ross County and now finding his form again at Dundee. Never really done anything in a Hearts jersey a huge disappointment, but did he get played in his favoured position? Not for me. We should and will, bring in better. 

[Jambo dans les Pyrenees]

56 minutes ago, tiger Rudi said:

Not the kind of player Del wants I'd say. Club maybe too big for him. He does well at the likes of Ross County and now finding his form again at Dundee. Never really done anything in a Hearts jersey a huge disappointment, but did he get played in his favoured position? Not for me. We should and will, bring in better. 

 

Dhanda has likely got pictures of Naismith and Critchely on his dartboard.

 

Never really got a chance, but don’t think he is good enough for us going forward.

[Chillidigits]

15 hours ago, Pasquale said:

Dhanda played very well in last night's game.

I think Dhanda could be a decent squad man for the way we want our style of play to evolve.

[chrisyboy7]

3 minutes ago, Chillidigits said:

I think Dhanda could be a decent squad man for the way we want our style of play to evolve.

When a player gets a run of games they improve. When they are just squad players its harder. 

[Chillidigits]

3 minutes ago, chrisyboy7 said:

When a player gets a run of games they improve. When they are just squad players its harder. 

It's even harder when you're not in the squad at all.

[Chillidigits]

Liked the look of Stenhousemuirs Nicky Jamieson against Falkirk last night. Got MOTM despite being on losing side.

[OTT]

15 hours ago, Pasquale for King said:

Not sure OTT got that memo, he’s been talking up a few guys nowhere near the quality we require to upgrade the CH pool.

 

Freckleton and Graham are both very good young CBs with all of the physical qualities to be a roaring success. 

 

But both left sided, so not a pressing issue though, the right side (Kent) is where I think we most urgently need to focus attention in the summer, if we're looking at CBs. 

 

Playing in a shite team doesn't make a player bad. Look at Harry Milne. 

[Batistuta9]

On 03/02/2026 at 12:07, OTT said:

 

It really looks like a tall order to get the laddie to stay permanently. I don't think it is necessarily that he won't on a personal level, but the transfer fee Birmingham will want won't be cheap, especially because they will see him excel here, and then presumably the laddie and his agent will be well aware of the wages he can get, even for middling Championship clubs. 

 

If he can continue his form through to the end of the season, I'd have no worries about paying top wages (for us) - that is, that he'd be on Shankland level wages. 

 

He clearly is an all rounder, and looks to have more strings to his bow than Cammy or Beni, and whilst I'd love to keep all 3, I do think Cammy has eyes on pastures new, and Beni may also fancy a change. We've been crying out for a more dynamic midfielder, so I really hope something can be agreed. Think a couple of years here would do the laddie a lot of good for his own development, but equally, I'm sure he'll also see many EFL sides as capable of providing that same platform. 

 

Don't think Birmingham will be too difficult to deal with to be honest. He's obviously not in their plans and having paid about £500k for him, my guess is that they would be looking to recover most if not all of that fee, which is perfectly reasonable for us to pay. Definitely don't think they'll be after anything like £1M. Based on what I've seen of him so far, I'd be more than happy to pay that sort of money to keep him. Absolutely no idea what sort of wages he's on though. Online estimates between £6.5k and £17k per week 🤷🏻 - so who knows. 

He'd also count as a home grown at the club player, which makes him extremely useful for Europe because normally those places in the squad go to youngsters who probably won't play.

Would be worried about bigger clubs taking notice of him though. 

 

Edited February 9 by Batistuta9

[Horatio Caine]

5 minutes ago, Chillidigits said:

Liked the look of Stenhousemuirs Nicky Jamieson against Falkirk last night. Got MOTM despite being on losing side.

I thought the same. Was heading every ball out of the box

[OTT]

1 minute ago, Batistuta9 said:

 

Don't think Birmingham will be too difficult to deal with to be honest. He's obviously not in their plans and having paid about £500k for him, my guess is that they would be looking to recover most if not all of that fee, which is perfectly reasonable for us to pay. Definitely don't think they'll be after anything like £1M. Based on what I've seen of him so far, I'd be more than happy to pay that sort of money to keep him. Absolutely no idea what sort of wages he's on though. Online estimates between £6.5k and £17k per week 🤷🏻 - so who knows. 

He'd also count as a home grown at the club player, which makes him extremely useful for Europe because normally those places in the squad go to youngsters who probably won't play.

 

 

I guess we'll find out!

 

So far, I'm mega impressed with Leonard. Even against St Mirren, 2 very good games, and 1 poorer game, and IMO that was because McInnes tinkered with something that didn't require tinkering. 

 

We seem willing to spend now when the player fits what we want, and I think Leonard very much fits with what we want. I really hope he stays because he looks like a really solid signing for us, and a natural evolution to the players we already have.

[wcjambo]

3 minutes ago, Batistuta9 said:

 

Don't think Birmingham will be too difficult to deal with to be honest. He's obviously not in their plans and having paid about £500k for him, my guess is that they would be looking to recover most if not all of that fee, which is perfectly reasonable for us to pay. Definitely don't think they'll be after anything like £1M. Based on what I've seen of him so far, I'd be more than happy to pay that sort of money to keep him. Absolutely no idea what sort of wages he's on though. Online estimates between £6.5k and £17k per week 🤷🏻 - so who knows. 

He'd also count as a home grown at the club player, which makes him extremely useful for Europe because normally those places in the squad go to youngsters who probably won't play.

The issue with him continuing his current form and even improving as he settles into the squad more and more is bigger clubs taking note and beating us to him. 

 

he unfortunately doesn't qualify. the rules outline three years inbetween 15-21, and he left aged 16 so misses out by a year

[Batistuta9]

1 minute ago, OTT said:

 

I guess we'll find out!

 

So far, I'm mega impressed with Leonard. Even against St Mirren, 2 very good games, and 1 poorer game, and IMO that was because McInnes tinkered with something that didn't require tinkering. 

 

We seem willing to spend now when the player fits what we want, and I think Leonard very much fits with what we want. I really hope he stays because he looks like a really solid signing for us, and a natural evolution to the players we already have.

 

Agree he looks like he would be a very good signing. Would really like for us to get it done ASAP but you know how these things go. Just need to cross our fingers and hope for the best!  

 

[Batistuta9]

1 minute ago, wcjambo said:

he unfortunately doesn't qualify. the rules outline three years inbetween 15-21, and he left aged 16 so misses out by a year

Ah, damn  

Edited February 9 by Batistuta9

[Romulus]

15 hours ago, gordon simpson said:

Unsure what’s wrong with that sentence but okay. Leonard would be a great signing.

[Pasquale for King]

14 minutes ago, OTT said:

 

Freckleton and Graham are both very good young CBs with all of the physical qualities to be a roaring success. 

 

But both left sided, so not a pressing issue though, the right side (Kent) is where I think we most urgently need to focus attention in the summer, if we're looking at CBs. 

 

Playing in a shite team doesn't make a player bad. Look at Harry Milne. 

Was it Mayo you were bigging up last month? 
All these players may well have been good enough to play for us in the past, we are on an upward trajectory now and we need better than what we have, not guys that will need years to reach their peak and cost us far too much with little chance of selling them on, we have 5 of them already. 

[Ribble]

2 hours ago, Jambo dans les Pyrenees said:

 

Dhanda has likely got pictures of Naismith and Critchely on his dartboard.

 

Never really got a chance, but don’t think he is good enough for us going forward.

One badly affected by the ‘weight of the shirt’, with family in the stands always seemed to be trying too hard rather than playing with the freedom a player of his kind needs to

[OTT]

1 minute ago, Pasquale for King said:

Was it Mayo you were bigging up last month? 
All these players may well have been good enough to play for us in the past, we are on an upward trajectory now and we need better than what we have, not guys that will need years to reach their peak and cost us far too much with little chance of selling them on, we have 5 of them already. 

 

I'd mentioned Mayo a while back because I think he's better than Kent. He's not close to Halkett though. 

 

Hopefully you're right and we see some CBs signed that blow these suggestions out of the water.

[Pasquale for King]

15 hours ago, SkabalaJam said:

We will need a Scottish core of players, where else are we getting them from? Milne has done ok, McPake for next season. Both from Championship. JTA will be able to better identify what we need from SPFL. 

It looks like Brighton and USG have around a third of the squad of homegrown players, next season we already have that quota unless some leave. 
JTA will no doubt find us gems like Milne, like him it’s unlikely any of us will know who they are before they arrive.