BY ALAN TEMPLE – @CCP_Sport
HEARTS boss Craig Levein concedes that Kyle Lafferty’s head may have been turned by advances from Rangers – but is adamant the striker will be going nowhere until the Ibrox outfit get real with their valuation.
The Jambos gave short shrift to an initial £200,000 bid from the Gers for the Northern Ireland internationalist, who scored 19 goals last term, and Levein’s contempt for the opening gambit was evident.
And he has predicted a repeat of Rangers’ pursuit of Jamie Walker, in which the Glasgow giants saw three bids for the playmaker knocked back last summer – the highest being around £650,000 – before he ultimately joined Wigan in January.
As with that saga, Levein is more than happy to hold on to Lafferty, who entered the fray as a second-half substitute in yesterday’s 5-0 demolition of Inverness, unless a suitable fee is received.
“Players are always for sale but not at that price. It is not what we are looking for and we just get on with things,” said Levein. “We said ‘no, thank you’ and I’m not going to use any adjectives to describe the offer apart from ‘disappointing’.
“We’ve spoken to Kyle and his head has been turned a little bit but, to his credit, he has been very professional.
“As much as Kyle says it’s not having an effect, I think it probably has. I had a long chat with him on Saturday and Sunday about his responsibilities as a professional and he tried like a bear when he came on and he was focused.
“The good thing is we only have another month of this nonsense. We had the same dealings with Rangers over Jamie Walker and it was a bit ‘meh’. I kind of expect the same thing again.”
Asked whether Lafferty wants to return to Rangers, his boyhood heroes where he claimed six major honours between 2008 and 2012, Levein added: “I didn’t actually ask him that. As far as I’m concerned, he and I are fine and I don’t have any issues at all.”
