Hearts template for Taouil

With Andy Driver, David Templeton, Suso, Rudi Skacel and Arvydas Novikovas all offering creativity in attacking areas, Hearts are keen to add Taouil's talent to themix.

Whether the Moroccan internationalist can be accommodated in the team alongside all of the above remains to be seen, but Brown does not need convincing of his worth.

He and Jim Jefferies brought Taouil to Scotland four years ago whilst in charge of Kilmarnock. Jake Duncan, the agent whose client list also includes Jonathan Toto, offered them the player and they were instantly impressed. Now they are keen to lure him to Hearts on a pre-contract agreement believing his panache is certain to excite supporters.

"That's important to Jim and I. We try to get as many skilful players as we can," said Brown. "The whole team is about a balance and we can't have them all like that or you'd need about five balls on the pitch for them all. We're trying to get a good balance and generate some competition and create a team that is very skilful.

"You've got to remember there are a few clubs after Mehdi. He's had a really good season and is in big demand. He is a player that we've always liked. He would give us something different in the middle of the park. He holds the ball in, creates wee situations with his skill and he's a really good type of person. He's at the right age and he's the type Jim and I like at a football club.

"He can create things when the game is tight, either by playing a wee threaded ball or by beating men. He's a 100-percent player, he's good at training and he's good about the place. Maybe we haven't got that in midfield at the moment. He's adapted to the Scottish game really well and I think this season he's flourished. We hope to get him but it isn't a certainty we will get him."

Jefferies has been in Lithuania visiting Vladimir Romanov, Hearts' majority shareholder, and discussing next season's strategy. The Edinburgh club are on the cusp of securing third place in the SPL and a return to European football, achievements which will be difficult to better.

"We've got a lot of players here at the moment," continued Brown. "If we finish third in the league, you've got to make sure the ones you bring in can make you better than that."It's not easy to get them. We know what positions we want to strengthen.

"Jim has been in Lithuania. Obviously we have to get our plans worked out for next season. Everybody makes a big deal of it but at a football club the manager and owner have to liaise over plans for next season. At Kilmarnock you would go down the corridor and see the owner, here you have to go to Lithuania. It isn't a great big deal, it's just an ongoing process that every club goes through.

"We do our homework, we watch games and we know players. It's just a matter of sitting, talking and coming up with the best answer for the club. In this day and age you can get good players out of contract so that's what we're looking at. They needn't necessarily be Scottish or British. Mehdi Taouil has played in Scotland for a while but that isn't a must."

For Taouil to arrive there are others who will be deemed surplus to requirements. Some, like Ruben Palazuelos, Ismael Bouzid and Dawid Kucharski, are nearing the end of their contracts and may depart of their own accord.

"These things are all done by agents. We'll just have to wait and see how it develops," said Brown. "Players out of contract have the option to go elsewhere so who knows? I don't think having Hearts on your CV is a particularly bad thing. This is a good place to be."

One player unlikely to be leaving is Rudi Skacel. Hearts have an option to re-sign the Czech for another 12 months at the end of this season and both parties seem willing to work together. Brown admitted nothing will be cast in stone and no contracts signed until third place is finalised.

"Rudi's done really well here. We hope to keep him but we'll just have to wait and see. We haven't really sat down and discussed that yet because the whole plan isn't quite together. We still have a wee while to go and to tell people they are either here or not here when we haven't nailed third place, it isn't the time to do it. We need to wait two or three weeks till we formulate everything."

Victory over Dundee United at Tannadice tomorrow evening would go some way towards securing the stated aim. Brown has had plenty opportunity to engage in spying missions of late given United's chaotic fixture schedule which saw them play three times in six days last week. He warned of a team with the ability to interfere with Hearts' designs on third.

"I think Stephen Thompson (United chairman] is starting to think I'm stalking him. I've seen three out of their last four home games. I went to watch them before we were due to play them last time and it was postponed. This time I've seen them a few times and they are a good team. If they had their full team all season they would be up challenging us without doubt. They have good players.

"You would think they would be tired but I was up there on Sunday and I didn't see any sign of tiredness in their game (against Motherwell]."They finished pretty strongly and had Jon Daly to come on plus Garry Kenneth on the bench as well. David Robertson and Johnny Russell didn't play either on Sunday. I think the nature of the game on Wednesday would support a team that's playing well."