BILLY KING has told Robbie Neilson he isn't planning to return to Tynecastle this summer just to sit on the Hearts bench. The Hearts and Scotland Under-21 winger, who joined Rangers on-loan this January, has shown flashes of potential during his time at Ibrox thus far and is closing in on his second championship winners' medal in successive seasons.
Neilson, who has been adamant all along that the player will return to Gorgie this summer, where he has a year remaining on his current deal, re-iterated that stance yesterday but King said last night that he would wait until he speaks to the Hearts boss in person before trying to plot his future. Mark Warburton has yet to indicate whether he sees him as a Rangers player long-term. King started 11 matches and made nine substitute appearances during that opening section of the season, but has fallen down the pecking order behind fit-again Jamie Walker and Sam Nicholson.
“In the first half of this season at Hearts, I was mostly on the bench and coming on," said the 21-year-old. "I think I deserve more of a chance. Next season, I don’t want it to be the same as this season. I want to play more games.
"We will see what happens in pre-season and find out where I stand," he added. "I’ll have a chat with Robbie. A lot can happen in the summer - it depends what style of play he wants to play, who's coming in, who's going out ... so we'll see what happens. Right now I'm just concentrating on Rangers and getting to the end of the season and trying to win the league. I'm not really thinking about too far into the future."
“Billy definitely has a future here [at Hearts]," Neilson told media yesterday. "I think he will be a big player for us next season, with European football and a bigger squad."
"Billy has done the job we knew he could do, in terms of his quality and attitude," was Mark Warburton's take on it. "He is great to have around the place and is really well liked by everyone. I have been delighted by his contribution, but in terms of recruitment we wouldn’t discuss that."
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