JAMBOS BULLYING BRELLIER

JULIEN BRELLIER'S Tynecastle future is in doubt according to his agent Maurizio de Giorgis after he claimed Hearts are trying to force his client out of the club.

Brellier was surprisingly left out of the Jambos side who beat Inverness Caley Thistle 4-1 at the weekend with head coach Valdas Ivanauskas insisting the player needed a rest.

The decision came following the Frenchman's controversial sending off in his side's Champions League qualifier defeat away to AEK Athen the previous midweek when Brellier was booked for wearing an earring and then picking up asecond yellow card for a foul.

However, De Giorgis believes the player is being punished for his refusal to sign a new contract at Tynecastle which he describes as offensive.

De Giorgis' claims have thrown Brellier's future at the club into serious doubt after he insisted he was indeed fit to play against Caley Thistle and he believes the capital club are trying to bully the midfielder into signing a new deal.

The Jambos rescued Brellier from the fringes of Inter Milan's reserve squad last summer and offered him a 12-month deal with the option of a further year if it was suitable to both parties.

Hearts met with De Giorgis before the game against Celtic earlier this month and offered Brellier a new two-year deal. However, the agent revealed it was a non-starter from the beginning.

De Giorgis said: "Julien was not injured on Saturday to face Inverness Caley Thistle. He was fit to play but obviously it was a technical decision of the coach to axe him from the side.

"He was just told that he would not be playing, as simple as that.

"Who knows what goes on at that football club on a daily basis?

"The current contract situation with Julien is that Hearts have made him an offer which I would call offensive.

"Julien's deal runs until the end of the year and he fully intends to honour it. But we will have to wait and see what happens beyond that.

"Maybe the club don't like him as much as the Hearts fans.

"Julien would not be out of work and I am pretty confident of finding him a new club if Hearts want to let him go.

"Julien will stay to give his best and if he plays, he plays.

"He knows that if he is being kept out of the team there is nothing he can do about it. I'm sure I can find him a new club if he decides to leave Hearts.

"The Hearts supporters love him and he is a popular player at the club but the people higher up are the ones who pay his salary.

"Julien loves life in Edinburgh, he loves Scottish football and he loves Hearts and is very happy here.

"He has no real intention to leave the club but I really do not know what the outcome of this episode will be."

'Maybe the club don't like him as much as the fans'

Taken from the Daily Record