HEARTS' big-money signing target Darren Potter will thrill the Tynecastle fans with explosive flair and craft, according to a Liverpool pal.

Vladimir Romanov has been busy conducting negotiations with the 20-year-old midfielder's representatives with the aim of bringing the player to Hearts.

A fee of £750,000 has been reported, and Potter's Edinburgh-born Liverpool colleague Robbie Foy today provided an insight into the youngster's talents.

Although reported as being an attack-minded midfielder, Foy has declared Potter's greatest talent to be his ability to dictate the tempo of a match before exploding into action himself.

"Darren is a good player and if you have the right players around him he will do the unexpected and the team will benefit," said Foy.

"If you have players who will make the right runs forward he has the quality and the mind to pick players out. He has some flair about him and has his own style. He doesn't run at players, he sits and reads the game really well. When the opportunity arrives he can do something out of nothing. Darren can run games from the middle of the park.

"As you would expect, he is a very good passer of the ball who can open teams up. He is a player who gets on the ball and makes things happen." Foy admitted his surprise at hearing Potter linked with a move to his native city but he is also acutely aware of the potential benefits.

"He hasn't mentioned anything to me about going to Hearts but they are doing well this year and I know he is looking to gain first-team experience. He wants to play regular first-team football so I think Hearts would be a good move for him. He does get on the score sheet quite a lot, to be fair, and I think that's down to him being able to do things spontaneously. Hearts would like him."

Potter is presently out of action with fractured vertebrae and is due to reclaim full fitness by the end of January. He has appeared seven times for Liverpool this season, six in the Champions League where he featured prominently in the three qualifying rounds.

Romanov is understood to have been especially impressed by the youngster's performances against his Lithuanian club, Kaunas, in Liverpool's second qualifier.

Potter has been dismayed by his continual absence from the Liverpool side for league encounters and consequently may be willing to consider a move. Although he is primarily a central midfielder, operating wide on the right is something he also relishes.

"As long as I'm playing then I don't mind where I play. I can do a job on the right side of midfield."

Hearts are also being linked with Josef Kauman, a right full-back from FC Teplice, and the Moldovan international defender Yuri Priganiuc.

Taken from the Scotsman