Pressley stresses importance of Scottish talent to Hearts

STEVEN Pressley quips that his toughest role as Hearts captain since Vladimir Romanov embarked on an extraordinary 11-player recruitment drive in January will be managing the distribution of complimentary tickets for the 35-man Tynecastle first-team squad. However, he retains a more serious role in ensuring a Scottish feel is not lost in these transient times.

Pressley has been a strong and consistent advocate of Hearts maintaining a Scottish identity to their squad and, as part of the national team himself, has been proud of the role played by his team-mates in Walter Smith's international set-up. And while he has warmly embraced Romanov's wide-ranging transfer policy, the club captain clearly holds a desire to see home-based talent remain at the Tynecastle forefront.

"I've said it time and time again, we have a great nucleus of Scottish players already, and the foreign lads who arrived in the summer integrated very well," said the 32-year-old. "There's a real good spirit within the dressing-room, and I don't foresee any problems in the future.

"The Scottish players have a very important role in keeping that balance in the squad, but I think it's also important that the players we signed were not completely from abroad. We brought in English-based players, and of course Neil McCann. They have a grasp of the language apart from anything else, but I've always said you need the right balance."

While it would be sensationalist, therefore, to suggest Pressley fears Hearts will go down the route of certain other SPL clubs by importing mediocre foreigners at the expense of Scottish youngsters, the Elgin-born defender clearly views the development of Scottish players as crucial. One of them, Christophe Berra, has taken the captain's place in the Hearts team for the last two games due to Pressley's suspension. The former Dundee United and Rangers man is full of praise for the player seen as his protégé, and equally content that Berra's progress has not gone unnoticed by the management team at Tynecastle.

"Christophe has done very well," added Pressley, who will return to Graham Rix's line-up for tomorrow's Scottish Cup fourth round tie with Aberdeen. "He's a young player with a big future. The fact that no new centre-backs have been signed is a big compliment to Christophe."

Meanwhile, the 17-year-old Bulgarian striker Branimir Kostadinov has revealed he has decided to join Hearts. Lens, Manchester City, Celtic, Austria Tirol, Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg were also interested in signing the teenager.

"[I had] an interview with Hearts," Kostadinov told a Buglarian newspaper. "Everything passes very well and now I am in Edinburgh." Hearts must enrol the player in college before formalising his signing.

Taken from the Scotsman