Hearts could reportedly be forced to offload some of their top earners when the transfer window opens, with the club facing financial difficulty due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Football is currently suspended across the world and for many clubs, it is an extremely worrying time due to having no income from ticket sales.
Jambos owner Ann Budge said earlier this week that the shutdown of football in Scotland will cost her club around £1 million.
Hearts have one of the biggest budgets outside the Old Firm, but the suspension of football is prompting Budge to reduce wages of full-time employees by 50% in a bid to prevent redundancies.
Now, The Daily Record claim the club may have to offload a number of high earning players once the next transfer window opens.
The likes of Uche Ikpeazu and Loic Damour are ‘likely’ to be moved on according to the outlet.
Needs must
The situation is horrible for everyone, and lots of clubs are going to be impacted worse than Hearts as a result of this shutdown.
The Jambos are now clearly exploring ways to minimise the impact of having no income for the rest of the season, and selling top-earning players seems to be one way of doing that.
Ikpeazu, in particular, is a popular figure at Tynecastle and for many, seeing him leave would be gutting, but it sadly may be a case of needs must.