Hearts suffer double injury blow as record signing and key defender sidelined for Rangers and beyond

The Tynecastle club are also waiting to learn the extent of a knee problem sustained by key defender Frankie Kent, who has been ruled out of Saturday’s William Hill Premiership clash at Rangers.

McInnes waxed lyrical about what Ageu can bring to the Jambos after his eye-catching debut as a substitute away to Livingston in the last game before the international break.

But the Brazilian midfielder, who joined for 2million euros from Portuguese club Santa Clara two weeks ago, is now set for a lay-off that could include the Edinburgh derby against Hibs on October 4.

“Ageu felt his hamstring last Monday,” the manager said on Tuesday. “We hoped we’d put some work into him in the international break but we were unable to do so.

“He was still feeling a wee bit of tightness, so we sent him for a scan so he won’t be part of anything for minimum the next couple of games.

“The only good thing is that the games are a bit stretched out over this period. After the Hibs game, we get another international break. At this stage, we probably wouldn’t rule him out of the Hibs game, but I think we’ve ruled him out of Rangers and Falkirk.

“I spoke long and hard about the benefits of having him with us and his influence on the team. We’ll still have time to do that this season, but unfortunately it won’t be immediate.”

McInnes is also waiting to learn how long he will be without centre-back Kent.

“Frankie twisted his knee yesterday (Monday) in training and unfortunately for us he’ll be out for Saturday,” said the manager. “He’s got a scan and we’ll get the results of that hopefully tomorrow morning. We just hope it’s nothing too significant.”

Goalkeeper situation improving

On a brighter note, McInnes is excited about the prospect of having new German goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow in his squad to provide competition and cover for Zander Clark.

The manager revealed 42-year-old Scotland keeper Craig Gordon is also knocking on the door for his first involvement since May 3 after recovering from a shoulder problem.

“Alexander’s looked great coming in, he’s added real strength,” he said. “Big Craig and him have worked really well while Zander’s been away with the national team.

“Having Craig back is so important, and we felt the need to bring in another goalkeeper just probably because we weren’t really sure of Craig’s injury when we first set out to sign Alexander. Obviously, both keepers (Clark and Gordon) have a wee history of some injuries.

“I’ll need to have a conversation with Craig. He’s certainly trained well over the last week to 10 days, but he’s come from a long way back.

“He’s missed pre-season, and he’s not had too many training minutes, so that would always be a wee bit of concern, but the thing that flies in the face of that is he’s got the experience to deal with that, and he’s training well at a good level now.

“He doesn’t look like a goalkeeper at this minute who’s struggling to find his way.”