Kenneth Vargas gets huge Hearts vote of confidence from close friend

While on international duty with Los Ticos, Vargas - who has a long-term contract with Hearts - said: “I would like to go somewhere else where I can have a better place and compete more. I don't want my words to be misinterpreted, but I want more friction, to play against better-level players.” The 22-year-old moved to clarify the situation with a social media post claiming his words had been taken out of context, although the damage has been done with some of the Hearts supporters.

Vargas appeared as a second-half substitute during Saturday’s 4-1 defeat by Celtic and there were some jeers from the Tynecastle fans but Devlin, a close friend of Vargas, revealed that his pal had been in touch in the wake of his comments to say that he was “misinterpreted”. The Australian urged the Hearts support to get behind the pacey forward, claiming that Vargas “loves being here”.

“I was in Scotland and he texted me saying: 'Can you please help me, I've been misinterpreted,’” said Devlin. “Obviously it's the language thing. I hadn't actually seen what was the interview or whatever, so I was texting him back and forth and then obviously saw the article. I just told him: 'The only way you can win them back is by working your socks off and scoring a few goals and repaying it by doing that’.

"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. 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. Maybe he said a few things that, you know, a bit naive and he probably regrets saying, but yeah, he's just a kid and I know that he'll keep working hard. Hopefully the goals start falling for him and hopefully he can win them back over, but I can completely understand the misunderstanding kind of thing.”

Vargas retains the full support of the Hearts dressing room despite the comments. "Yeah, of course he does, of course he does,” said Devlin. “You can't put any of your team-mates to the side. I know what it's like coming from the other side of the world and it's harder for him, he doesn't speak English.

“You've got to put your arm around him. He's a young kid, like I say, and coming from the other side of the world, he's got no family here and he's just got to put his head down and work hard. That's the only thing you can do, it's our job at the end of the day.”

Hearts remain 11th in the Premiership after the reversal by Celtic, although the Jambos more than matched the champions in the first period and were guilty of missing chances.

“I feel like we've been playing really well,” added Devlin, “but football's about scoring goals and not conceding goals. On the pitch, it feels positive, it feels good and I feel like you can feel the fans watching on, they can feel it's been positive. We just haven't been ruthless enough in both boxes.”