Zaliukas in dark over future

Zaliukas: Uncertain future

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Marius Zaliukas admits his future at Hearts is up in the air while contract negotiations with owner Vladimir Romanov remain unfruitful.

Zaliukas, who is club captain, insists he wants to remain at the SPL club beyond December when his current deal expires.

Romanov met with the defender in Kaunas ahead of Lithuania's Euro 2012 qualifier against Scotland but talks have so far failed to yield an agreement.

"We had a chat but nothing was solved," said Zaliukas, who rebuffed reports he is demanding £20,000 per week.

"Now that I'm the captain of course I'm enjoying it over there but we will see what is going to be."

'Miles apart'

Zaliukas' future at Hearts could look bleak if Jim Jefferies' record is anything to go by.

Jefferies only used Jose Goncalves in an emergency last season after the Portuguese defender rejected a contract offer and a similar scenario could occur for the Lithuanian international.

And the centre-back added: "This is football, I need to deal with everything that comes my way."

Jefferies had speculated that Zaliukas might be engineering a move after being told both parties were 'miles apart' in their figures.

"He said he was happy here. He said if he could get the deal he was looking for, he'd be happy to stay," Jefferies told the Edinburgh Evening News.

"But there's a big difference between what he's looking for and what teams can afford, that seems to be what's holding it up.

"Sometimes players don't want to stay and they can maybe ask for quite a lot more knowing they've got no chance of getting it."