Jorge Grant discusses his Hearts future - improved form creates uncertainty on some issues
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Anyone watching Hearts this season would note Jorge Grant’s improvement over the Christmas period. Adding more aggression allowed the midfielder to show some of his true capabilities against Ross County, Motherwell and Dundee United. A draw and two victories from those fixtures underline his influence.
Grant is unsure what the future holds, however. Out of contract at Tynecastle Park in June, he is now free to talk to any interested club about a pre-contract agreement. The 30-year-old thought a move might transpire this month given his game time had been restricted until the last few weeks. He admitted that prospect was at the back of his mind.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“I think so, yeah. I think that I'm a footballer, I just want to play football at the end of the day,” said Grant. “Now I've got that, obviously I don't know where I stand come the future. It's not really on my mind at the moment. I think that will happen in the summer, or whatever comes will come. I feel like I'm just trying to concentrate on my football and concentrate on helping the team and get us up the table.”
Asked if there had been any talks on that subject, Grant replied: “No, nothing.” He is just grateful to be back in the starting line-up under Hearts head coach Neil Critchley. “The message was just to be patient. He knew that there were loads of games coming up, and he felt like my opportunity would be there at some point. He just told me to be patient, keep working hard, be professional, and that's what I tried to do.
“It's been really good. Obviously, it was one of those things where I was coming on some games, not coming on other games. I felt like some games I came on and did well, and some games I didn't get into the game and show what I can do. It was nice to start three on the bounce. I'm just happy to be back in the team and happy that the team are winning.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdSeven points from nine is a decent return, albeit conceding on 97 and 99 minutes to draw 2-2 at Ross County still gnaws away in the back of Hearts players’ minds. So far in 2025, there have been two 1-0 wins over Motherwell and United. Sunday’s win at Tannadice saw 11th-placed Hearts overcome the team in third spot in the Premiership.
“We spoke about that before the game, that we haven't won back-to-back in a long time, so it was important that we backed up Thursday. We did that,” said Grant. “It’s a tough away game, tough place to come, and I think we dealt with everything. The long throw-ins, the corners, the free-kicks that they had that they put in the box, I felt like we dealt with it well.
“You can see our performances are improving, but the results are improving as well. I think that bunch in the table is now a lot tighter, so we can definitely start pushing on and looking further at the table.”
Hearts, of course, began the season with aspirations of occupying third place. “Yeah, I think we ourselves were looking at that as well,” admitted Grant. “It's been a disappointing start, but hopefully this is the turn of things. Obviously, three good performances in a week, seven points is a good return.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“It's not something that we discussed as a statement of a win on Sunday. I just felt like we spoke about backing up what we'd done last week. Obviously, the performance at Ross County was good until the last five minutes. We wanted to build on that. We haven't won a lot away from home. So those were more of the things we spoke about coming into the game.”
Critchley is using Grant in a deeper midfield role in the hope that he can control the tempo of play. The ploy has been effective lately. “Yeah, I really enjoy it,” said the Englishman. “You definitely see a lot more of the ball. I feel, because you're slightly deeper, I can definitely pass forward, which I feel is one of the better parts of my game. I try and pass forward as often as possible. Playing in that deeper role, I've definitely got more of the ball and can progress it a bit more.
“The message was exactly that, try and get on the ball as much as possible, try and pass forward as much as possible. Defensively - be solid, be in the middle of the pitch where things are for the first and second balls and stuff, and try and keep it solid in that middle area, and then the same for in-person.”