Exclusive:Hibs star contract latest as Rocky 'conversations' explained - and gaffer's clear message to defender revealed

Hibs boss David Gray insists he’s had “conversations” with one of his most dominant performers about a contract extension beyond the end of the season. But the gaffer admits that Rocky Bushiri has “aspirations” to play at a higher level – and says that’s just one factor in a potentially complex situation that goes beyond the desire to retain one of his top stars.

Asked recently if his representatives had been in discussions with Hibs over signing a new deal, Bushiri said: “Not yet.” But Gray insists lines of communication between player and head coach have always remained open.

And the first-year boss declared: “Clearly, you would want to keep a player like that at your club. If it's right for everybody involved.

“Yes, he's also got aspirations to play at a very high level, his national team, everything else that comes with that. So it's about a balance when a player goes into the last six months of the contract, looking at what everybody wants in that sort of situation.

“Ultimately it needs to be right for the football club, but I want the best players at the club if we can, as much as we can. So it's a balance between all that, and how that all fits in together.

“There will be conversations moving forward. But right now his full focus is on keeping doing what he's doing at the minute.

“I think Rocky's one of four or five, isn't he, who are playing really well, but the contract's up at the end of the season. And there have been conversations.

“I've spoken to Rocky a couple of times, on different thing. There's been interest in windows for different players as well as guys who are out of contract.

“But his full focus right now is on doing what he's doing. I've said this to Rocky, that the best thing he can do is keep doing exactly what he's doing right now.

“Which is putting in really good performances, playing at a very good level, and maturing all the time. I think that's the big thing I'm seeing in him at the moment.”

Proud of clean sheet record

As well as chipping in with decisive goals at big moments, Bushiri has been a key factor in Hibs keeping clean sheets in their last three fixtures. A badge of honour for more than just goalkeeper Jordan Smith and his regular back three/five.

“As a defender, you pride yourself on clean sheets and that's something that we were really big on at the very start of the season,” said Gray, the former fullback recalling: “I remember we lost that goal in the last minute against Queen’s Park - and up until that point, throughout the whole pre-season, we hadn't conceded a goal. The boys were all talking about that.

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“It really does become a collective effort that even the strikers start to believe in. They start to think about what their involvement is in it because it is really a collective in terms of pressing for the front, the structure in behind it and the defender wanting to defend.

“That’s three clean sheets in a row, which is brilliant. Clearly, we need to be at the very top of our game to keep another clean sheet at the weekend. But that’s the mindset going into every single game.”

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