Birmingham City loaned midfielder Marc Leonard to Hearts during the January transfer window
Marc Leonard celebrates his goal for Hearts against Rangers
Marc Leonard scored his first goal in almost two years on Sunday but he couldn’t inspire loan club Hearts to a victory over Scottish Premiership title rivals Rangers.
Birmingham City’s Leonard opened the scoring at Ibrox, where he began his youth career before switching to Hearts in 2014, but Rangers roared back to record a 4-2 victory.
Hearts still have a two-point lead on Rangers at the top of the table and three on current champions Celtic, albeit the Hoops do have a game-in-hand.
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On a personal level, Leonard is looking to win back-to-back league titles having helped Blues win League One in record-breaking style last season.
The midfielder opted for a romantic return to Hearts, whom he left as a 16-year-old to join Brighton, instead of staying in England when Blues made him available for transfer in January.
Leonard’s deal is only a loan, meaning he will return to Blues in the summer for his future to be ironed out. The 24-year-old is contracted until 2028 at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park.
Speaking to Edinburgh News, Leonard said: “I’m still contracted to Birmingham, but I think, bigger picture, I wanted to play more football and I think the opportunity that came up, I don’t think anyone would have turned that down to come here and play and to be part of this team that’s sitting top of the league right now.
“The standards there are extremely high, and obviously it’s a huge club with great facilities and we achieved a lot last year because of how high we drove the standards. We had six games to go and we’d already won the league, and we never lost any of them.
“I think that cements how high the standard was. But the standards here are extremely high and that’s driven through the manager, to the assistants, to even every staff that takes part in the training sessions, not to let it dip because, obviously, as we all know, Celtic Rangers are great teams, huge clubs and if they smell blood, then that’s going to be the problem.
“So we need to stay on top of it, even if it’s not actually a game day. It’s every single day getting ready for it.”
Leonard’s loan is playing out exactly how Blues hoped it would. In addition to a first goal in 80 matches, Leonard has been ever-present in Hearts’ five Premiership games since he joined.
The Scot is putting himself in the shop window if a long-term future under Blues manager Chris Davies isn’t on the cards.
Blues are believed to have paid under £500,000 for Leonard when they signed him from Brighton in 2024 and they wouldn’t have entertained anything below £1.5million in January.
You would expect a similar fee to be demanded in the summer if Blues and Leonard decide to part ways, which would be a win for the club against today’s Profit and Sustainability backdrop.
Should Blues sell Leonard in the summer? Let us know your thoughts in the comments…Get the latest Blues headlines sent straight to your phone
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