When Hearts fans can expect to see signing pair and how they will fit in

Add as preferred source on Google

Hearts have seen January signings Elton Kabangu and Jamie McCart have a big influence on the team already.

Both scored in the Jambos’ 3-2 win over Kilmarnock on Saturday and McCart picked up the man-of-the-match award having been a rock at the back in his four appearances to date.

It was Kabangu’s third strike for the club in three games after his prolific double to down Brechin City in the Scottish Cup, and he has added another dimension to the attack.

Hearts have also added defender Michael Steinwender and midfielder Sander Kartum, but both are yet to be seen in action and weren’t in the squad for the Killie game.

With Craig Halkett’s injury, a space could be created for the former while Kartum has been brought in to add some creativity to the midfield.

But are they ready to feature yet or will fans have to wait?

• READ MORE: Why Derek McInnes Kilmarnock moans were wrong and Hearts goal call was legit

When will Kartum and Steinwender get Hearts debuts?

Both of Hearts‘ new additions were brought in from Scandinavia, Kartum from Brann in his native Norway and Steinwender from Swedes Varnamo.

They have been in their off-seasons having finished their campaigns in November and not yet completed a pre-season, so will take time to get up to speed.

Manager Neil Critchley is keen to integrate the pair into his team after they were identified through Jamestown Analytics, but knows he must be patient with them.

He said: “Hopefully we’ll see them sooner rather than later, they’re doing training but they’re at a different stages of where they’re at physically because their seasons finished at the end of November, early December.

“They’ve had their off season and it will be like us returning to pre-season.

“They’re returning to their pre-season, so we have to make sure we try and get them up to speed as soon as possible but as safely as possible as well, because we don’t want them to break down.

“They’ve had four to six weeks of no training so we need to get the balance right between training and getting them up to speed because we all want to see them on the pitch as quickly as possible.”

How Hearts signings will fit into the team

Kabangu has already improved the Hearts attack and a relationship with James Wilson seems to be starting to form, with work still to do.

Critchley feels Kartum can also help evolve the team as an attacking threat.

“I think it’s a work in progress to be honest with you,” Critchley told the Edinburgh News. “It’s the first time Elton and James have played together and, even though they were a threat, there’s still time when you can see that they haven’t played together.

“Sander will help with that, with the creativity in the final third, he’ll bring balance to the top end of the pitch with him being left-footed. It’s also nice to have Shanks back, so we’ve got a little bit of competition up there. That might help moving forward.

“It does give us different options and that’s what you want. You want a little bit of difference of profile of player to give the opposition different things to think about. You can pick certain players for certain games or certain moments in games.

“With Musa coming on at the weekend, we thought he could stretch the game and when the big spaces are on the pitch, he would capitalise on that. He nearly did with two goals.

“Shanks added a presence for us and came on and kept the ball for us. He helped us to get up the pitch and keep the ball up at the top end, which was important.

“They’re all a little bit different. It’s now just making sure that they get work on the training pitch, work together, work out what each other’s strengths are and then have to pick the right ones.”

There is also work needed on gelling the defensive players, with McCart and Steinwender new in that position, as well as Lewis Neilson having returned from his loan at St Johnstone.

“When I came to the club, Frankie and Kye were a really good partnership,” added Critchley. “They were our main two centre-backs and on Saturday we finished with Jamie and Lewis, who have only just met let alone played with each other.

“We conceded two poor goals – that was nothing to do with those players, really, it was more of a team thing. But, yeah, Halks and Jamie have struck up a really good partnership very quickly and it was not nice to see Halks go off early in the game because it probably disrupted us a little bit. Lewis came on and that was an opportunity for him, so fair play to him.”