Sheffield United target John Souttar agrees summer move away from Hearts

The 25-year-old Heart of Midlothian centre-back will move to Ibrox in the summer.

Last week Blades manager Paul Heckingbottom admitted his interest in the player, but he always knew it would be difficult to sign him, particularly in the January transfer window with a lucrative Bosman signing lurking in the summer.

"He’ll be a player in demand because of his situation, he’s done very well and is in the last year of his contract," said the former Hibernian manager when asked on Thursday if there had been any developments. "That’ll mean he’s in demand.

"Hearts will struggle to keep hold of him, whether he moves now or in June is the thing that him and his people are working on."

Heckingbottom, who is currently isolating after contracting Covid-19 but fit and working from home, is looking to make signings in this window but is yet to do so, although he insisted he did not have to let players go before he could bring any in.

His focus is on defensive areas because his squad is top-heavy with attacking players. Kyron Gordon made his debut at centre-back in the FA Cup at Wolverhampton Wanderers last week and wing-back Rhys Norrington-Davies ended the game on the left-hand side of a back three.

Asked if he was close to any signings on Thursday, Heckingbottom was unable to deliver any good news.

"There’s nothing to report on it," he said. "There's lots of things are going off in January, I forgot what a pain in the backside it is, with things you don’t want to deal with and things you do."