Hearts bid to lure Jerome Thomas

Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson admits he is hoping the offer of helping Jerome Thomas become a coach will be enough to sign the former Crystal Palace forward as a player.

Hearts Head Coach Robbie Neilson. Picture: SNS

The 32-year-old one-time 
Arsenal, West Brom, Charlton and Portsmouth winger has been training with the Gorgie club following his release from 
Selhurst Park in May.

While Neilson admits there is no chance that Hearts can afford to table the kind of lucrative terms that Thomas was used to in the English top flight, he hopes the player will be attracted by the offer of progressing his coaching career at Tynecastle.

Speaking ahead of today’s trip to Celtic, Neilson said: “We’re in the process of trying to put something to him because you can see in training he is a top player. He’s getting to an age now that he wants to start 
focussing on himself and his future development, and that’s something we can look at.”