Neil Critchley slams Hearts transfer leaks as 'unacceptable' after Cammy Devlin release fee emerges

Fuming Hearts boss Neil Critchley slammed “unacceptable” leaks over his players as Cammy Devlin emerged as a target for sides in the English Championship and MLS.

The Aussie midfielder is on the radar of Portsmouth and New York City - with reports stating he has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave for little over £280,000. However, Record Sport understands the actual figure is higher than is being claimed. Critchley is also set to lose defender Kye Rowles to the States with DC United closing in on a £600,000 deal while Liam Boyce is expected to complete a move back to Ireland with Derry City in the coming days.

But it was the news on Devlin which set Critchley off ahead of the weekend trip to face Aberdeen - and the manager accused those behind the leak as not having the best interests of Hearts at heart. He said: “We’ve not had anything on Cam, so that's the first I've heard of it.

“What I would say is certain information that has been leaked is unacceptable. Gossip and transfer rumours is one thing - but leaking information that should be confidential to a player, club etc. goes beyond the line and doesn't help anybody.

“It wasn't accurate anyway, but say in terms of Cammy being linked to other clubs, we've not had anything from any other club regarding Cammy.”

Asked if the release clause does exist, Critchley said: “I’m not going to discuss players’ personal contracts, I won't discuss your contracts with other people and I'm certainly not going to get into whether Cammy’s got a release clause.

“It's not right, it doesn't help in terms of signing players, retaining players, whoever's done that or wherever that's come from, I wouldn't class them as somebody who's got the best interests at heart for Hearts