Levein has his work cut out with unhappy Walker

THERE are no winners in the Jamie Walker saga. Least of all the player himself. Hearts placed a £1million price tag on the winger. With the 24-year-old under contract at Tynecastle until next summer, they had the right to stick pretty much any value they liked on his head. Just as Rangers had the right to refuse to pay it for the simple reason that they reckon he’s worth a good deal less. Nothing wrong with that. Two bids from Ibrox were knocked back and nobody blinked an eye. Transfer negotiations are a marathon and not a sprint. They’re a game. The two sides bat figures back and forward until a satisfactory compromise is reached and there was always the expectation that Walker would finish up at Rangers eventually. But the window closed with no satisfactory conclusion to the negotiations. Everyone’s a loser. Rangers gained nothing from hinting Hearts were being unreasonable and should drop their asking price. If anything, that kind of talk was counterproductive. Hearts gained nothing from digging their heels in — and could still find themselves flogging an unhappy player to Rangers in January anyway. For a hell of a lot less than £1m. Walker himself is rooted at a crossroads. Nowhere near peak fitness and stuck — for the next six months — with a club he doesn’t want to play for. Hearts fans are not stupid. They know his heart isn’t in it. Craig Levein is a stubborn, canny operator. The best choice of manager the Tynecastle board could have made. One bad experience with Scotland shouldn’t damn a man for eternity and, at Premiership level, it’s hard to think of a more accomplished performer. After a shaky period when the Queen of Hearts lost her way, Ann Budge has placed the club back on a steady course. But steadying the ship doesn’t get any easier with an unhappy player loitering around the place like the proverbial. If Walker plays, people will judge his every move. If he doesn’t, they’ll draw their own conclusions. Levein will need all his years of experience to plot a satisfactory path out of a situation fast becoming a bit of a mess, but there’s an obvious place to start. If Hearts think Jamie Walker is a million-pound player, they can offer to pay him like one.