Liam Boyce has shot down any notion of leaving Hearts for Aberdeen and is focused on firing the Jambos into the Europa League group stages.
The Northern Irish hitman was linked with a switch to Pittodrie last week, while Ipswich Town were also credited with an interest. It left Robbie Neilson bemused, who insisted he had no intention of letting his top scooter of the last two seasons go, especially to a Premiership rival. Jim Goodwin admitted Boyce is a player he’s always admired, but wasn’t plotting a raid on Tynecastle to try and land him for the Dons. Boyce doubled down on Neilson’s stance, and had no idea where the links had come from.
With guaranteed European group stage football until Christmas, Gorgie is the place to be for Boyce and now is the last time he’d want to go elsewhere: “Exactly, last year we worked hard as a team and we were playing well, getting to cup finals and stuff and this is the reward for that,” he said.
"Now we’re thinking about winning games in Europe, it’s not just about getting there and celebrating, that’s it over and you go out at the first opportunity. We want to go in and show how good we are.
“I’m happy to be here and I’ve always said I’m happy to go wherever I’m wanted or stay wherever I’m wanted. I’m just happy to be at Hearts, a big club, we’re in Europe and that’s the way I take it.
“When you get older it sort of happens in every window, I think people just make it up, I don’t know where it came from. But I just concentrate on playing well and scoring goals and seeing what happens.”
The 31-year-old is entering the final year of his Hearts contract, however. He first arrived in January 2020 from Burton Albion and the brief was to fire Hearts to safety.
It started with a bang, netting a debut winner and 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Rangers then scored the following weekend at St Johnstone. But Covid and the subsequent premature ending of the the Scottish football season doomed the Jambos to a year in the Championship.
Boyce helped fired them back to the top flight and to third place last term. It remains to be seen whether this will be his final campaign in maroon, but he’s happy to extend his stay as long as Hearts want him.
He explained: “Wherever I’ve been I’ve never tried to force my way out or say I’ve wanted to leave. If the team wants me and I feel like I’m valued here then I’m happy to stay anywhere that’s available and if the club want me to stay I’m more than happy to.”
Boyce is preparing for his first European adventure in nine years. Cliftonville were regulars in the Champions League qualifiers, but he’ll be hoping for a longer and more exotic trip than he got the last time he played in continental competition.
The Belfast side were paired with Celtic back in 2013. Boyce led the line for the hosts but Neil Lennon’s side ran out comfortable 3-0 winners at Solitude before finishing the job with a 2-0 victory in Glasgow.
Hearts don’t have those early round qualifiers to worry about, and Boyce has his eyes on more big occasions nearly a decade on: “We played Celtic when I was at Cliftonville, we beat a Croatian team then played Celtic,” he said. “They beat us 3-0 at home then 2-0 at Parkhead, it was a good night, hearing the European music at a big stadium.
“You want to be lining up hearing you’re playing in Europe, it’s the stuff you remember when you stop playing. I scored for Cliftonville in Europe in the past. We were in the qualifying rounds and it was a good experience, I scored a few goals.
“You get more time on the ball, it’s a bit like International football, and it’s who is better on the day. It would be good to see how we cope with that.”
Speaking of international football, Boyce insists he’s feeling the benefit after excusing himself from Northern Ireland duty in August 2021. That afforded him a normal break before this week’s training camp in Spain, and he’s once again eyeing that 20 Hearts goals in a season record, still held by John Robertson.
Boyce added: “Towards the end of the season I didn’t score as many goals, that happened before once when I was at Ross County. Hopefully I can fix what went wrong at the end of the season and get a few more goals and hopefully hit 20, as everyone has been asking about it.
“This is probably the first year I’ve had the summer off with not having internationals so I’m feeling good and ready to go. I’ve come back rested and in better shape.”
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