Hearts boss Robbie Neilson reckons Kye Rowles and his agent deserve praise for resisting the urge to cash in while the Aussie’s World Cup stock was soaring.
The Hearts defender has been rewarded with a new five-year deal just six months after arriving from the A-League on a three-year contract. Rowles has been drawing interest since his Socceroos adventure in Qatar, where he impressed while starting all four games as Graham Arnold’s men made the last 16.
But Neilson was delighted to see Rowles’ representatives advising his client against chasing more lucrative offers elsewhere. The Gorgie gaffer said: “It’s nice to see. It was the boy Simon Miotto who did the deal. He was great and understands the pathway for the player here. I was really pleased it went smoothly.
"Kye and his agent have both been outstanding. They understand that he came here, played 10 games and went to a World Cup and they see this as the place that he can play football for a number of years.
“If he continues to progress then yes, he will move on eventually but we just felt it was right for him to commit his future to the club. It allows him to develop and it allows us to build as well.
"The important for the football club, from a financial point of view, is that we have an asset on a long-term deal. But from a football point of view we can build a team around Kye. What we don't want to do is have a good group and then Kye leaves for free at the end of a season, and then we have to re-recruit, rebuild the team.
“We felt it was the right thing to (offer him a new deal) because he had such a good World Cup and he did so well for us. So we felt he deserved to have a longer-term contract.
"I think it works both ways. We showed him that respect that we think he deserves and he shows us the respect because we've given him a platform to play here.
“There was a lot of interest in Kye, teams enquiring about him, but no offers actually came in. Again, his agent was very good in that whoever contacted him, he said to them that Kye wanted to stay at Hearts and develop. He wants to continue to play there and see where his is in a few years’ time.”
Hearts began a big week by beating St Mirren last Friday and have another huge Premiership clash against third-place rivals Aberdeen ahead of Sunday’s Scottish Cup derby clash with Hibs. Neilson - who will be without the concussed Andy Halliday for the Dons’ visit to the capital - said: “Whenever you play the teams around you it’s always important.
“We’re sitting in a good place at the moment and we know that three points will put us in an even better one. If we don’t perform on the night, it brings them closer to us.”
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