Hearts have signed Japanese forward Yutaro Oda on a three-and-a-half-year deal plus defender James Hill on loan from Bournemouth until the summer.
Oda arrives from Vissel Kobe on a three-and-a-half-year deal, with the 21-year-old having played in Japan’s top-flight, the Asian Champions League and featuring for the Japan Under-21s.
Hearts boss Robbie Neilson said: “He’s got a lot of great attributes but the exciting thing is that he’s still young and there will be more to come from him, so we’ve got a huge part to play in developing him.
“He’s very quick, very direct and technically very good. He’ll bring a lot to the team and we’re all looking forward to working with him.”
Sporting director Joe Savage added: “We’ve made no secret of our willingness to focus on markets across the world in an effort to identify talent and value for money.
“In Yutaro, we feel we’ve got both of those things. He is someone we had been looking at for a while and, thankfully, all the pieces fell into place to allow us to bring him to the club.”
Hill joins Hearts on loan
Defender James Hill has joined Hearts on loan from Bournemouth
Hill, 21, came through the ranks at Fleetwood Town and has been capped four times for England Under-20s
The defender then moved to current parent club Bournemouth last January, and is a welcome addition for Neilson who is without key players this season due to injury, including defender Craig Halkett.
“We’ve been unlucky with injuries in defence, and while the guys in there have been performing really well it was always high on our priorities list to get another defender in,” said Neilson.
Defender Craig Halkett will miss the rest of this season after a knee injury
“James has fantastic experience of playing at a high level down south and with England U20s and U21s and I’m sure that will stand him in good stead when the time comes for him to play for Hearts.”
Savage added: “James was a man in demand and we’ve managed to beat off a lot of competition to get him, so we’re really pleased.
“Being able to bring in players from England, particularly an England U21 internationalist like James, shows how highly regarded this club is held in footballing circles and that’s credit to all of the hard work that’s done on and off the park at Hearts.
“We know the areas we want to strengthen and our fans can rest assured that we’re continuing to work away to make sure that this is a successful transfer window for the club.”
Could Paterson and Kuol join Hearts?
Garang Kuol represented Australia at the World Cup in Qatar
Hearts are also understood to be closing in on deals to sign Callum Paterson of Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United’s Garang Kuol.
Scotland international Paterson is out of contract in the summer and could return on a permanent basis, having previously enjoyed a successful spell at Tynecastle Park before moving to Cardiff City in 2017.
Kuol is also set to be named as a Hearts player as he completes a loan move from St James’s Park.
The 18-year-old, who played for Australia at the World Cup, recently moved from Central Coast Mariners in his homeland to the Premier League.
However, the Magpies were keen to loan Kuol out to accelerate his development before involving him in their first team.
The versatile attacker visited the Jambos’ Oriam training base last week, and his arrival will increase the number of Australia internationals in Hearts’ squad to four, with Cammy Devlin, Nathaniel Atkinson and Kye Rowles already on the books.
Follow the January transfer window with Sky Sports
Who will be on the move this winter? The January transfer window closes at midnight in Scotland on Tuesday January 31, 2023.
Keep up-to-date with all the latest transfer news and rumours in our dedicated Transfer Centre blog on Sky Sports’ digital platforms. You can also catch up with the ins, outs and analysis on Sky Sports News.
