Cammy Devlin is convinced Kenneth Vargas can play himself back into the good books with Hearts fans.
A section of Jambos support booed the attacker when he came off the bench in the defeat to Celtic on the back of the Costa Rican admitting to the media in his homeland he was eyeing an exit. Devlin revealed the anguish the youngster suffered in the wake of the story breaking – and the advice he has given to win back the affection of the support.
The Aussie said: “He texted me straight away. I’m really close with him and he was saying: ‘Can you please help me? I’ve been misunderstood.’ I hadn’t seen it at that time but listen, I love him, he’s a really good guy and he loves being here. It definitely would upset him because you don’t want to upset anyone and that’s not what he’s like.
“I told him: ‘The only way you can win them back is by working your socks off and scoring a few goals.’ Kenny’s a young kid and maybe whatever he said he shouldn’t have said. But he’s a lovely guy and I can say hand on my heart that he absolutely loves being here.
“He loves coming out and we’ve got a really good rapport with him. I don’t think he would have signed his five-year deal if he didn’t love being here so I know he loves being here. Maybe he said a few things that, you know, were a bit naive and he probably regrets saying. But he’s just a kid and I know he’ll keep working hard. Hopefully the goals start falling for him and hopefully he can win them back over.”
Devlin admitted Saturday’s defeat to Celtic was a sore one. The midfielder also suffered hard luck stories against Rangers and Heidenheim in Europe. But he’s certain a big win is coming their way and is hoping it comes on the road against Cercle Brugge in the Conference League on Thursday night.
Devlin said: “I thought it was maybe coming against Rangers and I thought it was maybe coming against Celtic. But, yeah, it will come for us.”
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