Robbie Neilson on recruitment, next season's targets and his long-term plan for Hearts

He would rather have training to oversee and a match to prepare for this week. Football management may be a relentless 24/7 business, but end-of-season rest is not something the Hearts boss is looking forward to.

“To be honest, I’ve enjoyed it, so no,” he said. “It’s been great. We get a month off and I just want to get right back at it.”

The 41-year-old did treat himself to a beer after Saturday’s Scottish Cup final defeat to Rangers brought the curtain down on the season. Despite a disappointing conclusion at the national stadium, he could allow himself to reflect on a very successful campaign. But football moves on quickly and his focus is now on what happens next.

The players return for pre-season training on June 21. In the meantime, Neilson and sporting director Joe Savage have work to do to ensure they have a squad strong enough for the challenges ahead.

“Now all eyes are on recruitment,” said Neilson. “We’re losing John [Souttar]. We’ve offered Peter Haring a contract, so we’ll have to wait and see. We know we need to develop the squad.

“It’s important that we bring quality players in because I think the changes that Rangers could make [in the final] … we didn’t quite have that available. We need to try to get that. We need to try and get a real group of players here so that we come to Hampden and we can change things.

“We’re trying to get players in, but these things take a while. We’ve got targets and we’ll keep working on them.”

Former Doncaster Rovers centre-back Joe Wright has an invite to join pre-season training. Hearts agreed to sign him last summer before he suffered knee and ankle damage in Rovers' final game of the campaign.

Neilson would also like to bring in Scotland striker Lawrence Shankland from Beerschot having worked with him previously at Dundee United, but the Belgian club’s £500,000 asking price is a potential stumbling block.

Talks with Alan Forrest’s representatives are ongoing in an attempt to bring the out-of-contract winger in on a free transfer from Livingston. Guaranteed European group stage football is a carrot for the other players on Hearts’ shortlist.

“It’s excellent,” Neilson added. “In terms of European football, it is an opportunity for guys to come and play. Also for the guys that are re-signing, in terms of keeping hold of them.”

Loan players