Hill joins the Jambos

The England U21 centre-half joins the Jambos from the English Premiership side until the end of the season.

The 20-year-old, who turns 21 tomorrow, came through the ranks at Fleetwood Town. He made his senior debut, aged only 16, for the Cods in an EFL Cup tie against Leicester City in August 2018, becoming the club’s youngest ever player.

After racking up 53 first team appearances, James made the move to Bournemouth in January 2022, earning Fleetwood a club record fee in the process.

Capped four times for England U20s, James made his U21s debut in a 5-0 European U21 Championship qualifier away to Kosovo in June of last year.

He now arrives at Tynecastle Park ready to help the Jam Tarts push for European football and the manager spoke of his delight at bolstering his backline.

Speaking to the Official Hearts Website, he said: “I’m happy that we’ve been able to bring James in until the end of the season.

“We’ve been unlucky with injuries in defence, and while the guys in there have been performing really well it was always high on our priorities list to get another defender in.

“James has fantastic experience of playing at a high level down south and with England U20s and U21s and I’m sure that will stand him in good stead when the time comes for him to play for Hearts.”

Sporting Director Joe Savage said: “James was a man in demand and we’ve managed to beat off a lot of competition to get him, so we’re really pleased.

“Being able to bring in players from England, particularly an England U21 internationalist like James, shows how highly regarded this club is held in footballing circles and that’s credit to all of the hard work that’s done on and off the park at Hearts.

“We know the areas we want to strengthen and our fans can rest assured that we’re continuing to work away to make sure that this is a successful transfer window for the club.”