Premier League clubs target Hearts’ sporting director Joe Savage, 39, with Scottish side among the form teams in Europe this season

Hearts sporting director Joe Savage is emerging as a target for several Premier League clubs.

The 39-year-old has overseen several changes at the Edinburgh club but continues to make them competitive against clubs with bigger budgets.

Hearts were in third place ahead of Saturday’s Scottish Premier League clash against leaders Rangers and were coming off a 12-game unbeaten run.

In fact, Hearts and Rangers are leading the table in European form alongside more illustrious names such as Inter Milan, PSV Eindhoven and Paris St Germain.

Surprisingly, Savage had been criticized at Hearts’ AGM in December for elements of the club’s recruitment, but since then all of their new signings have adapted and fitted in under coach Steven Naismith, who Savage also lobbied to appoint.

Hearts are one of the in-form teams in Europe and were unbeaten in 12 matches heading into Saturday’s clash against Rangers.

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Hearts have had to be creative in how and who they recruit in recent seasons as they try to compete against the Old Firm of Rangers and Celtic. They found some key players in the Australian market and added people like Kenneth Vargas from Costa Rica.

Savage has previous experience in England, having worked as chief scout at Preston North End and Norwich City and his progress continues to be recognized within the game.

Clubs are increasingly recognizing the key role that sporting and technical directors can play within football clubs and a number of them are changing clubs at the moment.

Brighton have lost recruitment guru Sam Jewell to Chelsea, while Southampton will be hoping to see Jason Wilcox form part of Manchester United’s new recruitment team alongside Dan Ashworth, who leaves Newcastle United.