Hearts turn loan into permanent signing as further additions and Islam Chesnokov debut addressed

The former Kilmarnock centre-back has agreed a two-year deal, which will come into effect when his season-long loan from Oxford ends.

The 30-year-old has scored five goals in 24 appearances and helped Hearts lead the Premiership for most of the season by starting every league match.

McInnes said: “I do think, for all the signings we’ve made, it’s important that we have that core of Scottish players, people who know the Scottish league.

“It’s important we don’t ever lose sight of that. The Scottish league is quite unique in that sense where you’ve got to make sure that you’re ready for every eventuality, every kind of test and we need players like Stuart. For all the signings we’ve made he’s been as good as any of them.

“The best signing of the season was Lawrence Shankland. I feel as though I’ve got the best striker in the league and, while we have those core group of players then we’re confident we can help the whole progression of the club.

“To think it can just be done one without the other isn’t going to work.”

Hearts have added two foreign players to their squad this month with Kazakhstan winger Islam Chesnokov arriving after Dutch full-back Jordi Altena made his debut in Saturday’s win over Livingston.

McInnes revealed Chesnokov could make his first appearance at Dundee on Sunday.

“We just want to let the boy play now and train and integrate with his team-mates,” he said. “He’s had a good first couple of days.

“Obviously he’s coming from a different part of the world, a different league but it’s clear that he’s got a real handle on us as a team and what’s expected of him. I think he watched the game on Saturday on his phone, travelling from Amsterdam.

“We’ve got another couple of training days ahead of the game but he’s here to play and he’s here to make an impact.

“He’s not really trained with a team for the last month or so since the last international get-together but good players gravitate to good players.”

McInnes is not expecting much more transfer activity, although some fringe players could move on with interest being shown in goalkeeper Zander Clark from England. And he would not rule out more arrivals.

“The January window’s not normally a window where you should be looking for the fundamentals,” he said. “The work should be done by now and we feel as though the work’s been done.

“We are looking for those support players that can maybe help us add something a bit different, anything else we can bring to the table, we have to look at.

“We’re still mindful we’ve still got a few weeks, we can still react to injuries and things. Obviously we don’t want that and we’re not hoping for that or anticipating that but I feel as though we’re in a decent place with the squad.

“I’d rather concentrate on the ones that are here already rather than focusing too much on what’s maybe out there but these things are always ongoing with Jamestown and (sporting director) Graeme Jones.”