Hearts' Kyle goes an extra mile to gain fitness

Kyle, second-top goalscorer last season, has not played since January after suffering a recurrence of a hip injury that first surfaced six years ago and was reported in some quarters to be considering retirement at the age of 30.

The Scotland internationalist has resumed running exercises at the Jambos' Riccarton base, and Jefferies admits he has been surprised by the swiftness of the player's return to training.

"Kyle is coming on," said Jefferies. "We expected him to be months away but he's stepping up his running next week. He's doing it in short bursts at the moment and he's way ahead of what he was. Unless there's a setback and something happens, as it's progressing at the moment he could miss only a couple of games and be ready.

"He might even surprise us all and be ready for the start of the season. He's been jogging for 20 minutes or so. He's been out a long time and his fitness levels aren't that great, but that will come. We believe he'll step that up to a bit longer on Monday."

Kyle will not travel with his team-mates to Germany tomorrow for Hearts' double-header of friendlies in Berlin, but will increase the intensity of his fitness exercises when the squad reconvenes at the start of next week in the hope he may be ready to face Motherwell in the Jambos' third SPL game on Sunday, August 7. He is likely to miss the trip to Rangers and the visit of Dundee United in the two weeks before that match.

Boss Jefferies also revealed that Andrew Driver and Gary Glen will aim to resume training on Monday, but added that Callum Elliot and Suso Santana require more time to recover from respective injuries.

"Driver and Glen are ahead - they'll be training with us very soon," said Jefferies. "Monday's the target for them next week. Callum Elliot and Suso will be a bit longer."