HEARTS manager Robbie Neilson admits that Jamie Walker was allowed to depart Tynecastle as he couldn't give the 28-year-old assurances over his playing time.
The attacking midfielder has joined Bradford in England's fourth tier on loan until the end of the season after struggling for minutes this season.
Walker, who returned to the capital for a second stint with Hearts in 2019, has made four Premiership appearances this term, all via the bench.
Speaking to the club's website, Neilson admitted the deal to send the former Scotland Under-21 internationalist to Valley Parade was arranged so Walker could secure regular first-team football.
"The move comes down to the fact that Jamie wants to play more games," Neilson said. "We have a really strong squad and competition for places is fierce, so there are no guarantees that anyone will be an automatic starter.
"There is no doubting Jamie’s talent and whilst I would have been delighted to have him here with us for the second half the season, we must respect his decision and desire to play regular first-team football.
"Jamie goes to Bradford with our best wishes and the group now returns to training as we prepare to build upon what has been a fantastic first part of the campaign."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel