Neil Critchley reveals Kenneth Vargas Hearts apology as boss makes 'one or two' things clear to Costa Rican

Kenneth Vargas has apologised to his Hearts team mates for his scathing attack on Scottish football writes Fraser Wilson in Brugge.

Jambos boss Neil Critchley revealed he’d sat down with the Costa Rican for clear the air talks ahead of the Conference League clash with Cercle Brugge - and is happy the striker understands he was wrong. Vargas infuriated fans while on international duty last week when he claimed he wanted to test himself at a higher level and that a move could happen in January.

The 22-year-old striker said of the Scottish game: "Football wise they don’t have such a good level, everyone knows that." He later took to social media to backtrack and claimed his comments had been misinterpreted. But it was too late to avoid the flak with punters pointing out he has only netted twice in 20 appearances this season and has been guilty of fluffing his lines in front of goal particularly in single goal defeats to Rangers and Aberdeen.

Vargas is in line to start in Belgium and Critchley said: “Yes, I spoke to him on Sunday. We had a good conversation.

“I think Kenneth has learned from the experience. He knows my feelings as well. That is a private conversation between me and Kenneth. Kenneth is a good guy. He is a good person. Since I have been at the football club, he trains every single day. He trains really well. He is committed to this football club and he wants to get better as a football player.

“That is my job to try and help him. I know he has apologised to the team-mates. We had a good conversation. I said to him how I felt and made a couple of things clear to him. He explained what he was attempting to say. He has learned from the experience. Hopefully we can not have an issue like that again in the future.”