Berra on the prowl

Premierleague sides all value youth these days, primarily because it is the cheapest labour around. Young players are getting their chance because there is no opportunity to spend. Some will be good enough, plenty more won’t, but that is the financial reality, so who is disputing it? Well, last season, Hearts did under Vladimir Romanov’s ownership. They invested significant money in bringing new players in. The success rate of these purchases, many of which were only loan deals anyway, was variable, but culminated in them splitting the Old Firm and claiming the Scottish Cup. For all the flaws of the recruitment process — quantity above quality was a very obvious problem with the copious January signings — it got them what they wanted and the policy seemed to be working.

So why the change of plan? Is Romanov starting to lose interest? How much more money is he willing to put into Hearts? How much, more pertinently, has he really put in so far? Has he come to realise the obvious: that such a transfers and wage bill is not sustainable in the Premierleague? Perhaps, but this isn’t what he is saying. He spent the entire World Cup writing a newspaper column where he kept hinting he had seen international players he wanted for Hearts. We are still waiting for their arrival, and now Rudi Skacel has been sold to Southampton. This new interest in youth comes across as an attempt to deflect attention away from the lack of transfer activity. One theory is that Romanov is waiting on Champions League qualification before making his final choices and while this isn’t entirely unreasonable, it suggests the deals afforded Berra and Mole are actually short rather than long-term thinking. They will do for now, but if AEK Athens are defeated next month and Hearts reach the Champions League, they might well be replaced.

While Berra started, Hearts included three youngsters on the bench in midweek; Mole, John Neill and Andrew Driver. This appeared a deliberate statement of intent given who they could have had among the substitutes instead. There was no place for supposed £1.3m pair Mirsad Beslija and Juho Makela. Assuming he has an influence on team selection, and how can you seriously assume anything else, neither player fitted the message Romanov wanted to convey. Berra was watching the television news when he heard the Russian-Lithuanian’s latest public pronouncement. “It was very positive to hear for all the young players at Hearts because it gives us a lot of encouragement,” he said. “Hopefully he’ll stick by his word.”

Romanov is so quotable that what he says seldom gets challenged. The latest nonsense soundbite was wanting a new Tynecastle to rival Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. So what of his latest decision? Are Berra and Mole deserving of five-year deals? That is a difficult one to answer. Both have shown promise, but you can surely adequately reward that with a three-year contract. Five years is a very long commitment.

Within a year or two it should be obvious whether either or both are good enough to be first-team regulars at Hearts. The worst-case scenario is that the Edinburgh club could yet find themselves having to pay off such players with three years remaining on their deals. True, Romanov is understandably anxious to repeat the still unresolved situation with Andy Webster, who is attempting to break a four-year deal a season early, but is Berra anything like as good a player? Well, if you ask Berra that, the answer would be an affirmative. He is certainly not about to doubt himself. “I think I’ve done well for Hearts,” he said. “Even towards the end of last season, I played at Parkhead and Ibrox and did really well then, too. Every game I’ve played for Hearts I’ve proved I can do it and hopefully the gaffer (Valdas Ivanauskas will keep faith in me. The five-year deal is a lot of security, I wasn’t expecting it at first and was very happy to sign it. I want to progress over the next two or three years and do my best to get into the full Scotland international set-up as well. Some days I’ve been a bit worried at the number of signings, but it’s good that it increases competition. I think I’ve always had the ability to do it here, I think the manager and everyone that has come in knows what I’m capable of.”

Asked whether he minds being compared to Webster, he shook his head. He has had the parallels from the outset, the pair even making their debuts against the same opposition: Kilmarnock away. “I don’t mind if people do that, but we’re different types of players, just as I’m a different type of player to Elvis (Steven Pressley. You’re your own player and you just want to prove it to yourself. I came through the Academy here and I want to be part of the future of Hearts Football Club. Wednesday was my first big European game and Elvis told me afterwards I did well so that bodes well. Andy did very well for Hearts and had a great time here, now it looks like he’s going to step onto better things and hopefully one day my time will come to do that and get that far, too.”

At Murrayfield in midweek, Hearts were not entirely deserving of their 3-0 win, the first an own goal, the last a dreadful back pass, but there seems no reason to doubt it is really only AEK Athens in their way now. Berra, whose father is French, did recall thinking the same about AC Milan when they led Liverpool 3-0 at half-time in the Champions League final two seasons ago, a game he watched while away on Scotland under-21s duty. That said, he admitted the group stages feel close now. “Mr Romanov has come in and taken this club forward. This time last season would you have expected Hearts to be in the Champions League?” he said. “You dream of lining up and playing in the Champions League and it would be emotional if we got there. It would raise my profile and make me a better player.”

Should they make it, of course, the good news will continue to outweigh the bad. Still you feel, though, that what Hearts would benefit from most from Romanov is greater transparency because there is nothing clear about where he is really taking the club. Has he increased or reduced their level of debt since arriving? Does the manager have full control of team affairs? When is Tynecastle being redeveloped and to what extent? Time for less spin and more straight answers. The supporters continue to believe, but there remains the potential at Hearts for this shot at glory to backfire horribly.

Taken from timesonline.co.uk