Brellier to stay at Hearts

JULIEN BRELLIER will remain a Hearts player next season with his agent jetting into Edinburgh in the next 24 hours to secure the Frenchman's future.

High-ranking officials at Tynecastle have verbally confirmed their intention to retain Brellier's services and invoke the 12-month option on his contract, which was signed last summer upon his arrival from Inter Milan.

The player's agent, Maurizio de Giorgis, was this morning trying to arrange a flight to Scotland from his base on the Italian Riviera after receiving confirmation of Hearts' desire to keep hold of his client.

"I am flying to Edinburgh as soon as I can get a flight, so I will meet with Hearts later tonight or tomorrow," said De Giorgis. "But I have already spoken to them and their intention is to keep Julien, so it is 99 per cent certain he will be playing for Hearts.

"Julien is happy with that. He is content in Edinburgh and he has had a good year.

"There will be no problems with him playing there next season. There is no real rush any more because the club intends to keep him."

The terms of Brellier's contract stated that Hearts had to confirm any 12-month extension by midnight last night, and their failure to do so until now prompted much speculation on the 24-year-old's future.

Despite the club's majority shareholder, Vladimir Romanov, previously casting aspersions on Brellier's ability, interim head coach Valdas Ivanauskas has always maintained that the Frenchman was a valued employee at Tynecastle.

Ivanauskas told the Evening News as recently as May 29: "Julien is a part of our squad, an important player and we will need him next season."

That has prompted the move to tie him to the club for the foreseeable future.

De Giorgis continued: "Hearts had an option to renew Julien's contract for next season which they were supposed to take up by yesterday, so he will have the minimum of one more year there.

"That's why I'm coming over, to see if they want to give him a longer contract or keep it at 12 months.

"He had a contract already, which included the option, so there is no doubt about that. Hearts could either have kept him or told us they don't need him any more. But they have decided he is a player they need in their squad.

"I didn't have any doubt that Julien was an important player to the team.

"I saw them play three or four times last season and he doesn't waste a ball. Maybe he is not the best finisher or other things but for the balance of the team you need a player like him.

"He is the kind of player who is good to have. If you are a coach, you need a couple of players like Julien because he gives everything he has.

"He never pulls out of a tackle and he plays with his heart. That is a good combination for a Scottish team."

Taken from the Scotsman