Hearts star discusses well-being after injury scare and why he's excited for 2023/24 season

The Austrian midfielder missed six months of last season after the effects of a concussion sustained at Aberdeen in October lingered on and on.

He was finally able to return for the final six games of the campaign, though he was forced to leave the final game of the season against Hibs in the first half due to another nasty head knock.

But after some checks from the club’s medical staff the 30-year-old was given the all clear and he flew out with the rest of the squad for the pre-season training camp on Friday.

“I’m feeling good. Obviously I wanted to see how my head reacted after the last game,” he told the Daily Record.

“I got subbed quite early against Hibs and had to stay back at the club for a few days to do checks afterwards. I lost a couple of days holiday! But that’s fine as long as everything is good.

“Ideally after you get a head knock then you can play on. But I couldn’t because it was too much of an impact.

“Even after the last one took so long for me to come back, I was never afraid to take another knock on the head because I know these things happen in football. As much as it was frustrating I knew everything would get back to normal.”

Having missed so much time last season, Haring is eager for the new campaign where he’ll be looking to impress new boss Steven Naismith.

“The feeling about next season is excitement. Especially for me personally because I’ve missed so much of last season,” he said.

“For a lot of us it’s a fresh start under a new manager. Naisy took care of the last seven games but this is his first pre-season and the first time he will put a real stamp on how he wants us to play and what he wants from every player.

“It’s a fresh start and I’m really excited about going into the new season because there’s a big target going into Europe again which is achievable I think. I was happy to get back in and be part of the team in the last few games."