Players will not go for ‘buttons’, says Neilson

Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson believes Scottish clubs are in a better position to repel cut-price offers for their best young players after Ipswich failed in a bid for Jordan McGhee.

Hearts rejected a reported £250,000 offer for the 19-year-old defender this week and Neilson has said no one will leave the club on the cheap.

“They put an offer in which we believe was nowhere near his value,” Neilson said.

“Jordan has a great future here. He’s a big player here, he’s a Scotland under-21 international and captain.

“So if he is going to go, it’s going to be for a lot of money.

“Every player has a price. I don’t want to sell him but if someone comes in with an acceptable value then we will look at it.

“But the offer that came in is nowhere near the value of a player of his calibre. We don’t need to sell.

“We have had a lot of cutbacks over the years but everyone is starting to get back on their feet again.

“When you get back on your feet you can start demanding money.

“Look at Hibs, ourselves, Dundee United as well, they have set a precedent of what we expect from players.

“We can’t get our best talent cherry-picked for buttons.

“In the past five or six years English clubs have taken the best talent at 16,17,18 and then they disappear down there.”

Versatile defender McGhee has played 44 games for Hearts and Neilson feels he is better off staying in Scotland to further his development.

Neilson, who was 29 when he moved from Hearts to Leicester, said: “If you are going to go down to England, you have to go as a first-team player or you end up going down there and having to go out on loan and go to lower league clubs and try to get a game there.

“I think at the moment it’s too early for quite a few of the players.

“Ultimately it’s up to them, I can only give them advice.”

If he (Jordan McGhee) is going to go, it’s going to be for a lot of money. ROBBIE NEILSON