Robbie Neilson has revealed that Beni Baningime will definitely be the Hearts squad to face Celtic on Saturday.
The only question is whether the midfielder starts or not.
Neilson is confident that a deal to sign the midfielder from Everton will be completed either today or tomorrow.
And he could get a Scottish Premiership baptism of fire against Celtic in Saturday night’s season opener at Tynecastle.
“We’re delighted to hopefully get it over the line,” said Neilson. “He’s up here training and we’ve still a few things to iron out here and there but he brings energy to the midfield.
“He’s got really good stock. He’s been at Everton and played I think six Premiership games down there, 12 in all for a top team.
“So we know what he brings; energy, work ethic and moves the ball quickly. It’s an area we wanted to try and build on this season and hopefully he’ll do that for us.
“He trained today and has played some games down there as well. He was involved with the first team training up until they went to Florida so he’s in a good place fitness-wise.
“We’ll assess him today and tomorrow and make a decision for Saturday.
“He’ll definitely be in the squad, it’s just whether he starts or not.
"We’re still working away and have areas that we need to fill. We know that. It’s just a case of continuing to work hard to get them.
“It shows that we’ve waited to try and get a player of Beni’s calibre. We’ve managed to do it and we’ll continue to do that for other guys.”
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