Early indications of Perry Kitchen’s play in Scotland were very, very good. Hearts fans loved his ability to stick into a tackle and control the field, taking charge of the midfield and balancing the team in possession. I don’t know how many people could have predicted that Kitchen would impress enough to become the club’s captain in under a season, though.
That is a particularly meteoric rise in a club that, while not playing in a good league (the Scottish Premier League might be entertaining but it’s best team nearly lost to a semi-pro team from Gibraltar in Champions League qualifying, so let’s get real), does have ambitions.