Craig Halkett

Craig Halkett has been a fixed part of Hearts’ Premiership side in 2025-26, starting all 30 of his league appearances and adding four goals from central defence. A further two goals in four League Cup matches lift his all-competitions return to six goals in 35 appearances, which points to a defender with set-piece value as well as regular defensive responsibility. The discipline record is less clean – nine yellows and one red in the league is a notable cost attached to that level of involvement.

Halkett’s route has been a steady Scottish progression rather than a high-profile rise. He came through Rangers, took loan spells at Clyde and Berwick Rangers, established himself at Livingston, then moved to Hearts in 2019. The goal returns in the supplied career data are strongest around his Livingston spell – six goals in 2017-18 and seven in 2018-19 – before a longer Hearts period in which he has remained a central-defensive option with recurring set-piece output.

The transfer record is built around low-cost moves. Halkett left Rangers for Livingston on a free transfer after loan spells at Clyde and Berwick Rangers, then moved from Livingston to Hearts on another free in 2019. That pattern suggests a player who had to rebuild away from Rangers, converted Livingston form into a step back up within the Premiership, and has since retained value without commanding a recorded fee.