Bouzid wants contract talks to stay at Hearts

Ismael Bouzid

The defender's existing two-year deal expires next June and, as such, he is free to sign a pre-contract agreement with any interested party come January. However, the French-born Algerian international told his agent during a meeting in Edinburgh on Tuesday that he is perfectly content at Tynecastle.

"I had a meeting with Ismael, he is feeling good at Hearts," said Thomas Boehm, who flew to Scotland from Austria to meet his client. "He was not so good a couple of weeks ago but now the team is doing better and he is okay. Everything is okay so if the club wants to talk to me, they have my number and they can call me.

"The most important thing is that the player is happy and he is enjoying playing in Edinburgh. We would listen to everybody. Hearts is Ismael's team, he is happy there and he is playing regularly.

"It would be different if he was not in the starting XI but everything is quite calm at Hearts. We will talk to them.

"We will see what happens over the next few weeks and months. Sure, we have to do our job and check other markets but everything is fine for now.

"I have not spoken with Hearts yet. I had contact with Sergey Fedotovas and I know the sport director has left now. I don't have a contact with the manager because I did the initial deal for Ismael with Sergey and (Vladimir] Romanov. We will wait to see what happens."