Derek McInnes believes Hearts are equipped to add more players who could ‘make the difference’ this month after the Premiership leaders announced a pre-contract agreement to sign Uganda forward Rogers Mato in the summer.
The Tynecastle club made an offer of 350,000 euros (£303,400) to buy the winger from Vardar, but the title-chasing Macedonians revealed last week they had turned it down and were intent on keeping their talisman for the remainder of this season.
Now Hearts have agreed to sign Mato, who played all three matches for Uganda at the Africa Cup of Nations, on a three-year contract when his deal at Vardar expires in the summer.
‘We are delighted to announce that we have reached an agreement with Uganda international forward Rogers Mato to become a Hearts player in the summer,’ read a statement from Hearts, who described the 22-year-old as ‘one of Europe’s hottest properties’.
Hearts, who have the chance to restore their six-point lead at the top of the Premiership when they host St Mirren on Wednesday night, have already recruited Jordi Altena and Islam Chesnokov this month – and manager McInnes hinted that further additions are possible in the January window.
‘We’ve always had huge support from the board,’ he said. ‘We can only spend so much on Hearts wages and all the rest of it but, with the expertise of Jamestown (analytics), there’s a lot of people on the board, particularly (benefactor) James Anderson who’s keen to really support us in anything we’re trying to do.
Hearts have agreed terms with Rogers Mato, with the Ugandan striker to join in the summer
Derek McInnes is still looking to strengthen his Hearts squad for the title run-in
‘But from (chief executive) Andrew McKinlay, everybody on the board recognises that if we can make the difference with one or two signings and step up, then we could be in a position to go and do that.
‘Whenever we’ve presented good players to the board, we’ve always had good backing to try and get things done, and hopefully that continues.’
McInnes issued a rallying cry ahead of the St Mirren game, urging fans to boost their team’s title pursuit by cranking up the noise at Tynecastle.
‘We need all the help we can get,’ he said. ‘I think the fans realise by now that any sort of interaction, any positivity towards the team, any extra noise helps us.
‘It’s great when we turn up to away games and see the Hearts end jam-packed. For the home games, I know a lot of conversation has been had about how we can increase the atmosphere and how we can get behind the team.
‘The team’s got the biggest responsibility for that, but anything anybody wants to do to help, crack on, we could do with all the help we can get.
‘We want Tynecastle to be something extra special, something extra intimidating for the opponents, a place where our players really enjoy playing at home.
‘We’re now directly in competition with Rangers and Celtic as it stands in the league. We are the underdog.
‘But we have an unshakable belief in what we’re doing. We are confident where we are. This isn’t a purple patch. We’re nearly four months at the top of the league. It’s something substantial.’
