Hearts have signed forward Ellis Simms on loan from Everton.

The 21-year-old England youth striker makes the move to the Jambos until the end of the season, and could feature in the cinch Premiership match with Celtic at Tynecastle on Wednesday night.

Ellis was on loan at Blackpool last year and, speaking to the official Hearts website, boss Robbie Neilson said: “I’m really happy to get a player of Ellis’ quality on board.

“We’ve made no secret of looking for a striker and in Ellis we’ve found what we’ve been looking for.

“He’s got a great pedigree and all the attributes to be a success up here, so I’m looking forward to working with him.”

Sporting director Joe Savage said: “It’s always been about quality over quantity for us and we’ve got real quality in Ellis.

“He’s someone we’ve been tracking for a long time and although it looked like he may have gone to the English Championship we’ve managed to attract him up here, which speaks volumes about this club.

“Our thanks go to Everton for their assistance with the move and I am, like I’m sure our fans will be, really excited to watch Ellis play for Hearts.”