Joe Savage has helped take the transfer weight off Robbie Neilson ’s shoulders this summer.
The Hearts sporting director is in the midst of his first major transfer window at Tynecastle since arriving in Gorgie last January.
He played a big part in recruitment then, but Neilson has always had the summer window earmarked as the most important.
So far, Ross Stewart, Josh Ginnelly and Alex Cochrane have been added to the ranks ahead of the Jambos' Premiership return, although two of those were on loan last season.
Neilson confirmed this week that they are just waiting on a final answer from one or two targets but admitted getting that last bit done is always the most difficult part.
And that, Neilson says, is where Savage has proved to be a real help to the manager.
He said: “It’s been great. To get him in with his experience of England and the players down there has been great.
“It’s just a case of getting deals over the line for us.
“It can be difficult, because the market’s not really moving down there. Players are waiting and even in the foreign market a lot of them aren’t back yet.
“It’s just going to take time.
“The hardest thing to do is actually getting the deal over the line.
“Dealing with the player, showing them round, blah blah blah, everything’s great. It’s dealing with the agents and the time it takes going back and forwards with the contract.
“So, having Joe take that away and going and dealing with that is great.”
