JAMIE HAS PLOT MORE TO OFFER
TYNECASTLE, TONIGHT, 7.45 Levein: If Walker quits Tynecastle his new club will get an improved player
CRAIG LEVEIN admits Jamie Walker could be plotting a January exit from Hearts but reckons wherever he ends up they’ll now see a complete player. The £1million-rated playmaker has been free to speak to potential suitors since the start of December after entering the final six months of his deal with the Jambos. Hearts fans will get a taste of life post-Walker when Dundee visit Tynecastle tonight after the attacking midfielder was ruled of the clash with a niggling hamstring strain. The 24-year-old has only notched two goals during an injury-hit campaign but Levein insists the forward has become a more complete player. Levein said: “Contracts in Scotland end in May so Jamie’s been eligible to speak to clubs since the start of December. “That’s just the way it is. We should be contacted by the club if he is speaking to anybody as a matter of courtesy but it doesn’t always happen.
“I’ve been really pleased with his attitude and his focus. He’s got himself in a good place just now so I’m disappointed he has this hamstring problem.
“I don’t think it’s anything serious and I’m hoping he’ll be available for the Celtic game.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, whether he’ll leave in January or stay until the end of the season.
“We’ve had conversations but that’s not for public consumption. It’s hard to project what decisions we’re going to make based on something that might happen.
“I’m happy with what he is doing on the field and I think the penny has dropped. He’s doing exceptionally well.
“He is serious now about his football and somebody is going to get a good player. “Jamie has been really good, he has changed his game slightly in that he is much more diligent with his defensive
work and that’s helped us a fair bit. It’s probably been slightly to the detriment of his goal scoring.
“He’s had opportunities but not been quite as clinical as he has been. His overall game will improve and if we do better things round about him it will give him more chances to score goals.”
Levein has been impressed with how Rangers target Walker has matured and coped amid all the speculation over his future.
Levein said: “Some players are serious from the first moment they play football.
“Others go through life and then, at some point, something switches in their head and they say, “hold on, I’d better focus a bit more – and take football more seriously. It’s just age sometimes. Getting married. A kid being born. Some level of responsibility.
“Jamie has had a tough year Dundee but that has actually focused him – now he’s in a good place.
“All credit to him for that. He’s been really good.”
Walker is one of only four Hearts players to have hit the net in the league this season, giving the club the second worst scoring record in the top-flight.
Arnaud Djoum is one of the players yet to net this term and the Cameroonian is desperate to overcome a knee knock and get off the mark against Dundee tonight.
He said: “We have created a lot of chances but it’s proving tough to score goals at the moment.”
Meanwhile, Levein is weighing up a move for out-of-contract Ostersunds FK defender Gabriel Somi.
The Hearts boss has made signing a left-sided full-back his priority and the 26-year-old flew in for talks on Sunday.