The 3 Hearts stars I'd sell if the price is right as 30 player squad needs cut down to size - Ryan Stevenson

It's not that long ago that Nat Atkinson was squaring up to Kylian Mbappe at the World Cup. I’ll not lie - after Qatar 2022 I fully expected the Aussie’s career to accelerate at a pace which would make the Real Madrid superstar blush.

I didn’t expect him to be hanging around at Hearts much longer that’s for sure. I honestly thought Atkinson would come back from the World Cup, take his game to another level, and make the club some good money. But for some strange reason he has gone into reverse over the last couple of seasons. To a point I reckon he’s now in a bracket of Tynecastle expendables.

With 30 senior players in the ranks Steven Naismith will be looking at who could be cut free and Atkinson falls right into that category this summer. In fact there’s three first team players I reckon could be saying their goodbyes in the next month or two - and it’s not because they aren’t good players. But if decent offers came in for Atkinson, Jorge Grant and Toby Sibbick I think it would be hard to say no.

It’s a sign of where Hearts are at now that they will actually be looking to offload some players with undoubted talent but who just won’t be good enough to be regular starters. Peter Haring and Andy Halliday have already been released. But more will follow if the price is right.

Atkinson will have seen England U20 international Daniel Oyegoke arrive in his position from Brentford and probably think it’s a sign. The weakest part of Hearts’ team last season was on the right hand side and Atkinson never looked strong enough. There were times last year where tackles were there to be won and weren’t.

He shrinks away from that side of the game. You can’t do that in the Scottish Premiership. It’s a big no-no. Especially at Hearts