Hearts manager Robbie Neilson has said that a bid has been knocked back from Rangers for 25-year-old centre-back John Souttar.
Speaking to the Evening Edinburgh News, the Scottish Premiership coach revealed that the Glasgow giants have had an offer rejected for the Scotland international.
Souttar has already agreed to a pre-contract with Rangers to join at the end of this season. However, the Gers are now eager to bring in the defender this month, with a £300,000 offer being turned down by Hearts.
The Edinburgh-based club are in the race to qualify for Europe this season, and having Souttar in the squad will be key for Hearts if they are to achieve this goal come to the end of the campaign.
And this is why Hearts have rejected an offer from Rangers for Souttar. Neilson said: “We’ve had a bid in, which has been knocked out the ballpark, so we will wait and see if anything else comes in.
The Hearts boss added: “We value John very, very highly and if anyone is going to take him in this window, they are going to need to pay for him because we are aiming for the Scottish Cup and European football and we need to keep our best players.”
Hearts’ European goal could deny Rangers from signing Souttar early
With Hearts comfortably in third place in the SPL table, European football looks like a certainty for Neilson’s side this season. Yet there is no doubt that the Jam Tarts will want to retain Souttar for the remainder of the campaign.
Indeed, the British star is one of the club’s key players. And whilst Hearts are a good eight points ahead of fourth place, Souttar will be key to the club maintaining their high position in the table, which could stop Rangers from signing the defender this month.
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