Walker told to drown out bad advice and get his head in the game
Hearts interim boss Jon Daly has taken a verbal swipe at Jamie Walker’s advisors, claiming they are not helping his career.
The winger, who has been unsettled by Rangers’ recent interest, was dropped from the squad for last Saturday’s League Cup defeat by Dunfermline and, despite a switch in management, the 24-yearold will not be reinstated for this weekend’s Premiership opener at Celtic Park.
“I have a very good relationship with Jamie,” said the stand-in manager. “I think very highly of him and if I was manager at another club and had £1 million in my pocket, I would buy Jamie Walker.
“What he can bring to a team when he is on his game and fullyfocused,weallknow.heis a game changer, a matchwinner but when Jamie is in the headspace he is in at the minute he is no use to anyone and he is not helping himself.” The Tynecastle club have already knocked back three bids from Rangers, who have offered just half of the £1m Hearts are seeking for the attacker who finished last season as their top scorer and Player of the Year. And Daly believes Walker and his agent are playing a dangerous game.
“If nothing happens at Rangers, he’s not helped himself with other clubs that might be watching,” said Daly. “I had a chat with him along those lines, I told him we’d leave him out this weekend because he is not right and that would give him a few days to get back in the right frame of mind. I told him I thought that would help him and us, because we need Jamie at his best. If he does that, he brings so much to the team.
“Jamie is a young lad, still just 24, and I don’t think that the information he is getting from his agent is helping. He needs to take the focus off that and put it back on his football and ultimately that will get him where he wants to get to. That will get him playing at the level he wants to get to. Because, on form, he is 100 per cent a player I’d want in my team but he needs to be in the right frame of mind to help the team and impact games. It’s unfair to ask other players to work extremely hard to get Walker on the ball and get him to do his thing if he is not in the right frame of mind. At the minute he is not producing so he needs to get himself back to where he was.”