Hearts admit Jose Goncalves likely to leave

Published on Thursday 11 March 2010 08:59

JIM JEFFERIES has admitted for the first time that he is resigned to losing the fight to keep Jose Goncalves at Tynecastle as the Portuguese defender refuses to sign a new contract worth around £13,000 per week.

Goncalves may find himself called upon for Hearts' SPL encounter at Motherwell on Saturday due to the club's extensive injury list, but Jefferies is already planning a future without him.

He has watched centre-back Ryan McGowan in action for Ayr United and spent Tuesday evening at Almondvale casting an eye over full-back Jonathan Brown in Livingston's 2-0 victory over East Stirlingshire. Both players will return to Riccarton when their respective loan deals expire at the end of the season.

The manager conceded today that he has reluctantly accepted Goncalves will be leaving Hearts as a free agent in June. "The negotiations are over, it's all about him deciding whether he wants to stay at this club," said Jefferies. "I hope he has a change of heart but, having spoken with him about it for long enough, it's highly unlikely. We have to move on.

"Jose has been made a fantastic offer but he isn't going to sign for that. You can't blame the club, I think there's something that happened before I came here. If his mind is made up it's maybe for other reasons. He played last week against Dundee United because we were short of numbers and he is paid by the club so he has every right to be available.

"I think the club have done fantastically well to make him the offer they have, so it looks to me like he's made his mind up. He is a good player and we want him to stay but, if his mind is made up, and he's moving on, then others have to be given a chance. I can't leave players out who want to be here. They need to play to give me a chance to assess whether I want them or not.

"Because I know Jose is going, and it looks like he's turning down a very good offer, then I've got to think about seeing other players playing to make a judgment on them. If I keep playing Jose, I'll have that problem at the end of the season. I don't want to be having a look at players then, I want to have all that done and dusted."