Hearts transfer state of play on Lawrence Shankland, Ellis Simms, Jorge Grant and Connor Ronan

Last summer at Hearts was about strengthening for the top flight.

A comfortable third place finish, a Scottish Cup final run and qualification is evidence they did it very well.

This year, Europe is top of the agenda.

Robbie Neilson's team will be in the group stages either way, be it in the Europa League or the Europa Conference League.

A busier schedule will put extra strain on a squad that wasn’t the biggest last year, despite being relatively strong across the board.

The defence has been bolstered by the arrivals of Australian Kye Rowles and Lewis Neilson, while Alan Forrest offers an extra option in the wide areas.

Midfield and up front are now Neilson's focus, with and out-and-out number nine the priority along with more creative forwards.

Record Sport lays out the current state of play ahead of the Jambos’ return to pre-season training.

The Everton striker provided something very different to Liam Boyce after arriving on loan from Goodison last January.

But the pair worked well together, and Neilson is desperate to get Simms back for next season.

However, he;’s played down Hearts’ chances with plenty of interest from the English Championship.

He hasn't ruled it out though, and as far as fans are concerned, no news is good news at this stage as the front man weighs up his options.

Familiarity could give Hearts an advantage as Simms knows what he's getting into at Tynecastle. The carrot of European football is another.

But money talks and Everton will likely prioritise a club who can pay most or all of Simms’ hefty wage over the player getting European experience.

One to keep an eye on, and the sense is that the longer it goes without Simms agreeing a switch down south, the better for the capital club.

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