#3 The Jamestown Seven: "Everybody should have known about him... you didn't need data to see it" 👀

Magnusson: An athletic, eager all-rounder. ✅ Milne: Versatile, clever and good in the air. ✅ McEntee: A physical, super-competitive ball-winner. ✅

Welcome to part III of award-winning sportswriter Stephen McGowan’s investigation series into the arrival of new talent at Hearts following the buy-in of Tony Bloom and his Jamestown Analytics data company.

On Wednesday, we considered forward Claudio Braga and winger Alexandros Kyziridis.

Yesterday, we got insights on midfielder Eduardo Ageu and forward Pierre Landry Kabore.

In today’s final part, the focus turns to midfielder Tomas Bent Magnusson, full-back Harry Milne and defender Oisin McEntee.

Parts II and III are for paid subscribers.

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By Stephen McGowan

DEREK McINNES identified young Icelandic footballer TOMAS MAGNUSSON as a player with the attributes to succeed in British football. A first-team substitute with IBV at the age of 15, the midfielder helped the club to promotion from Iceland’s second tier, earning a move to Valur. Winning a League Cup with one of the island’s biggest clubs, he played in the Europa Conference League qualifiers before being flagged up by the Jamestown database. McInnes is excited by his potential.

“When I saw Tomas for the first time, I really wanted to do it,” says the Hearts boss. “He plays with his head on the swivel; he is aware of his surroundings. He is six foot two, uses his physicality, he’s a ball winner, is good on his left, good on his right, good in the air, and moves about the pitch really athletically.

“Of course, you look at the level of the Icelandic league and that’s where I have to take confidence from the work done by Jamestown. It doesn’t matter about the league; they identify players with good ability and try to do that before anybody else gets to know about them.

“Their confidence is that a lot more people will know about Tomas Magnusson when he makes his next move. But we got in ahead of that and I can see why.

“Beni Baningime and Cameron Devlin have been in there as the two steady midfielders and both have had superb starts to the season. Tomas has had to be patient but I think that has done him no harm at all. He has started recently and he is a boy we feel can go far.

“You talk to him and he sounds like an American college student because he spent quite a bit of time there. His English is magnificent and he is an intelligent, articulate young boy and he is impressive for someone so young. There is maturity about him, he is eager to learn and I think he is perfect for British football.”

“College boy” Magnusson celebrates scoring his first goal for Hearts in the 4-0 drubbing of Dundee on November 1

JOHANN INGO HAFTHORSSON, a football writer with Icelandic newspaper Morgunbladid, was surprised by Magnusson’s rapid progression at Valur, one of Iceland’s biggest clubs.

“At Valur, he got injured shortly after the season started,” the journalist recalls. “When he came back, he got into the side right away because of other injuries, really took his chance and began shining. He became an absolute key player for Valur.

“When the offer from Hearts came, I wasn’t too surprised because he had been awesome for a few months, not just in the league, but also in Europe. He really, really took his game to another level.

“He became this all-rounded midfielder at Valur. Endless running, a lot of energy, winning the ball back, confident on the ball, good passes and scoring goals. He bossed the games he played here.

“He became one of Valur’s most important players quite unexpectedly. He got his chance and took it with both hands. When he was sold to Hearts, Valur were at the top of the table but ended in second place. One of the factors was Magnusson’s departure.

“Before the season, I wouldn’t have thought for a second that Magnusson would go to a big club in Scotland. But after seeing him really shine for Valur, it wasn’t too surprising. He was clearly ready for a bigger challenge.

“He is growing so fast, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he can go even further. If he keeps at it, he can go far. He isn’t in the talk for a spot in the national team yet, but if he keeps improving it’s only a matter of time before he gets his first call.”

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Hearts icon PAUL HARTLEY always found HARRY MILNE a conundrum. A degree in International Business Management displayed intelligence, and his performances in the lower leagues showed genuine ability. The one thing he seemed to lack, in Cove Rangers manager Hartley’s eyes, was the drive to push for a career in full-time football until Partick Thistle came calling.

“Myself and Gordon Young arrived at Cove in 2019 and thought, ‘This boy is a good player’,” Hartley tells Nutmeg FC. “And you didn’t need data to see it.

“Everybody should have known about him given that he was at Cove for three years under me and was outstanding.

“He had been in the Aberdeen system when he was younger and he was a clever lad. He had gone to university and had a degree, but he didn’t really push himself. He was so laid back and when we said to him, ‘You could go full-time’ he seemed more focussed on his studies.

“He was working in a bar on Friday nights and we had to get him out. We paid him more money to keep his legs fresh for the Saturday.

“You didn’t need data to see he’s a good player.” Milne does battle with Nicky Devlin during Hearts’ August home victory over Aberdeen

“Listen, he was absolutely brilliant. I always felt he could play at a higher level and that he could do it in a certain number of positions.

“He can play wing-back, full-back, centre-half, he is great at going forward and a real threat in the air.

“When he got his move to full-time football with Partick, they gave him a pre-contract and did things the right way. I spoke to Ian McCall about him and made it clear we were not going to stand in anyone’s way.

“It’s no surprise to me that he has moved to Hearts and made such a strong start. He had to bide his time to get into the team, because James Penrice was there.

“Clubs like Brighton have been getting results from data for years, but there is still room for scouts to go and watch a player and see him with their own eyes. Data will tell you a lot of things, but it can’t tell you about their body language or attitude.

“But Hearts data people called me about Harry and did a full background check, and I gave him as glowing a reference as I possibly could. I’m surprised he hasn’t been involved in the Scotland squad already, to be honest…”

While Milne arrived at Tynecastle on a Jamestown recommendation before McInnes’ arrival, the Hearts boss knew all about his talents after weighing a bid to take him to Kilmarnock.

“Harry was signed the January before I arrived, but he was someone I was aware of when I was at Rugby Park.

“I always had quite good left-backs at Kilmarnock, but I had spoken to his agent about something for the summer and he was one that I liked.

“He played against my Kilmarnock team in a League Cup game and I thought he was magnificent. His energy and ability stood out, and I spoke to Ian McCall and Alan Archibald about his time at Partick. They said he had struggled a bit with a few injuries after going from part-time to full-time.

“But in the main, they thought he had so much to offer and he has been so good. I had always liked James Penrice and I only really had him for two or three weeks before he was gone. But there was always confidence because we had Harry and Stephen Kingsley in the building. Different types of players, but good full-backs in their own right.”

Like Milne, OISIN McENTEE was a Jamestown find McInnes had some knowledge of after watching the Irishman play for Morton on loan. Snapped up from Walsall, the former Newcastle United prospect spent 2021-22 at Cappielow and, despite signing as a midfielder, has spent much of the season filling in at right-back in the absence of Christian Borchgrevink.

“I wanted a utility player,” the Hearts boss recalls. “Someone who, looking at the midfield profiles we had, could give us a bit more physicality for the Scottish game. That was before Tomas Magnusson came in.

“I gave Jamestown the profile of player I was looking for, someone that could play a couple of positions, but a ball-winner and a good size because Baningime and Cammy Devlin are not the biggest in there.

“They threw up the name of Oisin and I watched him and made a few phone calls because he had played at Morton and been at Newcastle as a kid.

McInnes’ “competitive animal” McEntee fends off Rangers’ Jayden Meghoma during Hearts’ statement Ibrox win in September

“I had watched Morton a couple of times, looking at another player, when I was at Kilmarnock. So I was aware of Oisin but I hadn’t seen him play for a couple of years and I hadn’t seen him as a midfielder.

“He was actually signed as a central midfield player, but at Walsall he played to the right of a midfield three. That was the area of the pitch where he was really impressive.

“When I saw the presentation clips, I thought, ‘He’ll do for me.’ He has played at right-back so far and everybody says, ‘We need this and we need that’ but he is playing for a team at the top of the league at right-back and he has done more than fine.

“He gives us size, he is a competitive animal, he trains brilliantly and he wants to play for the Republic of Ireland. And I actually think he is an international in the making.”