Levein also reflects on 'sad' departure of Hibs boss Neil Lennon
Thursday 31 January 2019 12:28, UK
Hearts boss Craig Levein has revealed defender John Souttar is close to agreeing a new deal at Tynecastle.
The defender returned against St Johnstone on Saturday after three months out with a hip injury and has another 18 months to run on his current contract.
But Levein said on Thursday morning: "I don't want to say too much, but we're very, very close to John Souttar signing a new contract."
Hearts have already handed extended deals to Christophe Berra and Michael Smith.
Levein added: "There are two or three others as well (close to agreeing new contracts) and that is solely based on trying to get this stability that we're after.
"I was so chuffed with John's performance on Saturday. To have him back in the team makes me feel good."
Levein also admitted he was sad to see cross-town rival Neil Lennon leave his role as Hibernian head coach this week.
Lennon's departure means 19 of Scotland's 42 league clubs have changed managers this season, and the Hearts boss said: "I don't know enough to talk about the detail of what happened. I can say that I really like Neil as a person.
"It's quite difficult when we were in the positions we're in to have a great friendship but I think he's a decent, straightforward guy and I've always had a lot of time for him.
"It's sad. There's a great deal of empathy amongst the managers in Scotland and when one leaves it's always difficult.
"The turnover is crazy. We are trying to sign our players on long-term contracts and bring through young players because we have a long-term plan. The reason for it is to stop this constant changeover of managers.
"Every time you do it, it costs you money and that is money that's not going in to develop the squad. For me, the way forward is continuity."
