Rangers let down Hearts midfielder Jamie Walker, says Craig Levein
Friday 8 September 2017 14:21, UK
New Hearts manager Craig Levein has taken a thinly veiled swipe at Rangers over their failed summer pursuit of Jamie Walker.
Hearts rejected several pre-season bids from Rangers for the midfielder and the clubs did not come close to an agreement during transfer Deadline Day talks last week.
The 24-year-old has rejected an offer to extend his deal at Tynecastle and could sign a pre-contract at Ibrox in January, but Levein feels the wide player has been let down.
Levein, who moved back into management from his director of football role with the Jambos just before the transfer window shut, said: "I don't want to go into too much detail but if I was Jamie I'd be a little bit disappointed that a lot of the promises that were made to him weren't kept. And not from our club."
Walker was left out of match-day squads by both Ian Cathro and caretaker boss Jon Daly amid a perceived lack of focus, before returning to the team ahead of the international break.
But Levein has not felt the need to talk to Walker about his situation since the deadline passed.
"I have just been watching training and he has been excellent," the former Scotland boss said ahead of his return to the dugout against Aberdeen.
"I haven't had a conversation with him. He has trained fantastically well since the beginning of the week.
"For me, Jamie Walker is another player. If he does work on the training ground, he will play."
Rangers boss Pedro Caixinha later insisted he was not deflated at missing out on the former Scotland Under-21 international's signature.
"No I'm not disappointed - I'd only be disappointed if we didn't have cover in all the positions," the Portuguese said.
"Now I have - and I've told you from the very beginning and I can say it all day long - the best squad, I have the best players so I am happy."
Asked if he hoped to resurrect the transfer in January, Caixinha said: "The window finished on August 31 and doesn't open again until January.
"So from now to then a lot of things can happen. But definitely we cannot change the group that we have, so we are happy with what we have."
