TWENTY-FOUR hours after Hearts announced Rudi Skacel would be at the club for a further two seasons, Vladimir Romanov has revealed the player wants to leave Tynecastle for England.

Romanov now intends to cash in on the midfielder by selling him for £1 million.

In a wide-ranging interview, the club owner also criticised Andy Webster's parents for interfering in the player's future. Contract talks with the centre-half broke down recently and he is also expected to leave Tynecastle at the end of the season.

It is the likely departure of Skacel, however, that will stun Hearts supporters. The Czech is the club's leading league scorer this season with 16 league goals and has been idolised by the fans since joining the Gorgie club last July on a season-long loan deal from Marseille.

His future seemed settled by the announcement on Tuesday that Hearts had negotiated an undisclosed fee with the French club and exercised their right to retain the player for a further two seasons. But it now appears Hearts did the deal with Marseille in order to then sell the player on for profit.

Romanov said: "Skacel is thinking about moving to England, to the Premier League. His agent has asked us to terminate his contract to allow him to go to another club for £1 million."

In an interview with BBC Scotland, Romanov claimed Skacel was afraid he might sustain an injury with Hearts which would jeopardise his move south. The Lithuanian also blamed the player's dip in form on his impending transfer.

"I've spoken to Rudi and asked him why he wasn't playing as well as he had been and scoring goals, and he said he was thinking about moving to England," Romanov said. "I said to him to play well because it would be better for both sides as we would get money for him and he would get a good contract, but he said he was afraid of getting an injury. So I told him if you play and score goals, I'll let you go, but if you don't, I won't, because it won't be good for us."

Skacel, who plays on the left side of midfield, scored in each of his first seven league matches for Hearts and 16 times in 23 games. However, he has not found the net since January when he scored in the 4-1 win over Hibs.

He has found himself 'rested' in recent weeks, but returned to the side last Sunday for the game against Celtic and excelled in the 3-0 win. His contribution was subsequently overshadowed by his involvement in an alleged spitting controversy with Neil Lennon, the Celtic captain.

Webster has also found himself excluded from the team in recent weeks amid suggestions that talks over a new contract had ended in acrimony. Romanov said yesterday: "I like Andy. He is an excellent player and with Steven Pressley we have the best defence in Scotland. Unfortunately in football there are agents, but the most negative influence is the parents - they shouldn't interfere in matters."

Romanov was also critical of the club's medical staff, claiming they do not wash their hands before medical procedures. "They don't take their rings and watches off," he claimed. "I'm now looking for a head doctor, an assistant and a team of specialists."

Not content with admonishing the club's medical staff, Romanov also had a go at Hearts' previous custodians.

"When I took over, the club was ruled by amateurs - there was no control," he added. "First I had to deal with the organisation, but simultaneously I had to bring in players.

"Another of our projects is the reconstruction of Tynecastle, where we want to build a hotel and offices at the stadium, but it depends on councillors."

Taken from the Scotsman