Hearts' Templeton tipped for Scotland cap

Craig Levein, the national coach, is monitoring Templeton's progress closely and Locke believes it is only a matter of time before the 22-year-old earns a full cap. A series of dazzling displays for Hearts saw him nominated for this season's Young Player of the Year award and, prior to the turn of the year, he had scored seven goals.

A combination of injury and a slight lull in form affected him after the New Year, but Locke detects signs that Templeton is approaching prime performance once again.

"Temps has had a fantastic season but, like any young kid, once you get a taste of the first team you do kind of drop away a bit. I experienced that myself," said the first-team coach. "He's shown signs in the last few weeks that he's getting back to his best. If we've got David Templeton at his best then he's a big asset for us between now and the end of the season.

"A Scotland call-up maybe won't be this season, that'll be up to Craig Levein. But if Temps can take his form from the early part of this season into next season then I'm pretty sure he will force himself into the international squad."

Speaking as Hearts announced a two-year shirt sponsorship deal with Wonga.com, Locke explained how the Hearts management team have been scouring Britain in search of potential new signings for next season.

"Hopefully the sponsorship deal will add money to the coffers and we'll be able to bring in one or two players, but no doubt the manager and the owner will have that in hand," he said.

"When Kevin Kyle has been injured we haven't really had a replacement for him. We've watched numerous games over the last couple of months and we have people in mind. I'm pretty sure the manager and the owner will sit down and try to get players in as soon as possible. Hopefully, we will be announcing a couple of good signings.

"We're looking at every position. Myself, Billy Brown and the manager have been down south a lot watching numerous games. Every SPL team will be looking to strengthen in the summer and we're no different.

"I think you need strength in depth. It's always going to be difficult to challenge Rangers and Celtic because they are so consistent. Up until a point this season I felt our consistency levels were decent. We need one or two players to try and be more consistent.

"If we can challenge again next year and do relatively well in the cup competitions, I think everybody here would be relatively pleased. There is a lot to play for, that's what we've said to the players. The season isn't finished. We want to finish third and we still have Celtic and Rangers to play. They're both vying for the title so we will have a big say in what happens."

One player who has already held contract talks with Hearts is the out-of-contract Kilmarnock midfielder Mehdi Taouil.