Hearts signings will be improvement on departed stars

The Tynecastle wage bill will reduce by close to 30,000 a week when the contracts of Stewart, Goncalves, Nade and Kingston expire next month, freeing up funds for new faces.

Locke, along with manager Jim Jefferies and his assistant Billy Brown, has travelled around the country in recent months watching players who could potentially improve the Tynecastle squad. He said he is confident anyone who arrives will supplement the young talent already at the club.

"Obviously that will be up to the manager and the owner," he explained. "Myself, Billy and the manager have sat down over the last few weeks.

"We've been to a lot of games and watched a lot of players. I don't think we're going to target one set of players in particular. I think it's just players who we feel can come in and improve the team. If we get those players we'll be happy. Our main target isn't experienced players, it's just players who can improve the side.

"We're confident of getting better players into the club. One or two have moved on but that happens at every club. The manager speaks to the owner and he'll try his best to get as many players in as he can. It's a difficult period just now, you have players out of contract and you have to try to move one or two on to get one or two in."

Locke stressed Hearts did not force any players out of the club, with those out of contract simply choosing to try pastures new.

"These people are out of contract and they see their futures elsewhere," he continued. "I don't think it was a case of wanting to get rid of players, it was just that these players wanted to move on and I wish them all the best. They are all really good players and our aim now is to replace good players with good players."

Hearts signings will be improvement on departed stars - Locke