Disciple with heart of gold in bloom (8)
I believe the answer is:
follower
'disciple' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'heart of gold in bloom' is the wordplay.
'heart of' indicates the central letters.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'bloom' becomes 'flower' ('flower' can be a synonym of 'bloom'**).
The central letters of 'gold' are 'ol'.
'ol' put inside 'flower' is 'FOLLOWER'.
'with' is the link.
(Other definitions for follower that I've seen before include "A devotee or a pursuer" , "A loyal adherent - or a pursuer" , "fan" , "Disciple" , "Person who succeeds" .)