Levein fighting to keep Naismith and Djoum at Tynecastle next season

CRAIG Levein insists he will not let Steven Naismith and Arnaud Djoum leave Hearts without a fight.

The Jambos boss has already successfully tied down key men Christophe Berra, John Souttar and Michael Smith on new deals and now wants Scotland forward Naismith and Cameroon star Djoum added to that list.

Naismith is on a seasonlong loan from Norwich but the 32-year-old will become a free agent this summer when his Carrow Road deal expires.

Djoum, 27, made his move to Gorgie from Lech Poznan in 2015 but his current contract also runs out at the end of the season.

Both men have been offered fresh terms to stay at Tynecastle but Levein knows his chances of persuading both to commit their futures to Hearts depends on whether they receive more tempting proposals elsewhere.

Speaking ahead of tonight’s home Premiership clash with Livingston, Levein said: “I’m trying. My strike rate isn’t bad so far, so I’ll just need to keep it going.

“It would be good to get all the ones signed up who give us that stability I keep talking about.

“I’ll just wait and see what happens.

“I want Arnaud to stay but he said to me a while ago that if something comes up that at his age is worth an awful lot of money, then he would probably look to take it.

“But I’ll keep chipping away. He likes it here in Edinburgh and his family are settled. There is more to life than money.

“I believe Steven is happy here but, again, it depends on whether something else comes up in the next couple of months that piques his interest.

“But I’ll keep plugging away.”

Steven Naismith is on loan at Hearts from Norwich.