JAMIE Walker could leave Tynecastle next month but Hearts manager Craig Levein has no concerns about pitching the playmaker into Edinburgh derby action against Hibernian.

The 24-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and has made it clear he will not renew his contract, meaning the capital club are open to offers for the player next month.

“Jamie has been brilliant,” said Levein. “He’s going to leave, we’ve discussed that with him. That was good for me to know. He might leave in January, or he might leave in the summer.

“We did attempt to ask him to stay, but I get everything he’s saying. We’ve had a number of players who have gone through the same process – Callum Paterson, Sam Nicolson and now Jamie. These guys have been here a long time, and they have been through a period of some real dark times.

“In a football career it’s very rare these days a player will stick around for a significant period of time. Jamie’s probably the last of these guys who came through – and he’s not a kid any more. I’m just happy he’s focused and he’s playing well.”

Levein acknowledges that Walker was affected by speculation regarding his future at the start of the season, but he has no such fears ahead of Wednesday’s mouth-watering clash.

“Initially he had to get over disappointment,” Levein said. “A lot of stuff that was going around in the summer didn’t help him. He thought he was going somewhere, he didn’t get to go. People were telling him things that were going to happen, definitely, and they didn’t. They are becoming things players have to deal with on a regular basis these days, but I’m not worried about him in these circumstances.”

Another Hearts player who may attract interest in January is 16-year-old Harry Cochrane, but team-mate Michael Smith is hopeful the teenager will stay and continue to shine in the first team at Tynecastle.

“Wee Harry has been training with us since pre- season so I knew he was brilliant,” Smith said. “He was a young looking lad – he still is! But he has great ability and I’m sure there will be loads of clubs after him in January and if not next month, then in the summer.

“I think Hearts would be silly to let him go now and, if I had any advice for him, it would be to stay here and play games and then when you are a lot better you can move on.

“If he keeps playing the way he is then he will play games. It is a fact. He can get experience here. You only get better with big games and he can get that here.”

Hearts have had a dismal derby-day record of late, which has seen them fail to register a win in their last eight outings against the men from Leith. The frustration of supporters was underlined at the club’s AGM last Tuesday when Levein was asked when the team would stop “being bullied” in the fixture.

“I think it’s about being competitive and being in the game the whole time,” Levein said. “We are at home and recently we’ve done OK at Tynecastle. I don’t know who the exact personnel will be, but my first response is ‘we won’t be bullied’.”

Smith also acknowledged that the team must do better after a meek 1-0 defeat in Leith this term.

“We know we didn’t perform,” he said. “Personally, I look at that defeat and know that we have got to go out in front of our own fans and show them that the game actually means something to us.

“It definitely helps us being in front of our fans.”