Jamie Walker said it was "always on his mind" to rejoin Hearts after securing his exit from Wigan Athletic.

Walker left the Scottish Premiership club 17 months ago but has struggled to make an impact in England and spent part of last term at Peterborough.

The 25-year-old struck a deal to cancel the final year of his contract after making just eight Wigan appearances and has signed a three-year deal at Hearts.

"This club means a lot and I can't wait to get back playing," Walker said.

"It's been frustrating, but I've no bad words to say about Wigan. I went there and sometimes things don't work out, but I'm delighted to be back here now."

Former Scotland Under-21 international Walker scored 41 goals in 181 appearances for Hearts after making his debut in 2012.

However, his final few months at the club were scarred by a fall out external-link with manager Craig Levein's predecessor, Ian Cathro, amid speculation of interest from Rangers.

"The last six months when I was here, I wasn't in the best of form," Walker said. "But, if I can find the previous goals and assists, I'll be delighted.

"It was always on my mind to return here - this is maybe a bit quicker than I expected - but I'm delighted to be back and I'm going prove to everyone that I want to be here and I'm going to do well."

Walker in numbers

In the six months leading up to his departure to Wigan, Walker averaged 3.22 shots per game. In the previous season, that number stood at 3.77. As a point of comparison, the best performer from Hearts' midfield last term was Olly Lee on 1.95 shots per game.

Walker contributed with a bunch of goals too. In 2016/17, he scored 12 at an average of 0.42 per 90 minutes. That is twice as often as the best efforts from Hearts' midfield last season - with Peter Haring and Lee both averaging just 0.18.

The crux of the matter for Hearts is that they did not have enough goalscorers last season, which partly explained why they finished sixth in the Premiership. Steven Naismith scored 26.3% of their league goals, with fellow strikers Steven MacLean and Uche Ikpeazu contributing an average of 0.13 and 0.22 goals per 90 minutes.

Hearts, then, relied on their midfield for goals more than any other side in the top flight, with 50% of their Premiership strikes coming from the middle of the park.

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