Berra at heart of revival

George Burley has identified Christophe Berra's leadership as the catalyst for a Hearts revival and is convinced the Barclays Premier League beckons if he continues to inspire a Tynecastle resurgence.

Berra set up both goals during Saturday's 2-1 win against Rangers, which increased Csaba Laszlo's winning streak to five games and narrowed their gap over Walter Smith's second-placed side to seven points.

Fulham have expressed an interest in taking the centre-back to Craven Cottage, and could test the resolve of the owner, Vladimir Romanov, with a bid during the January transfer window. He is expected to remain at least until the end of the season but Burley is convinced the 23-year-old, who made a substitute appearance in last month's 1-0 defeat to Argentina at Hampden, has the talent to follow Craig Gordon's lead and flourish south of the border.

"He has all the credentials to be a top-class player," said Burley yesterday, at the draw for the fourth round of the Homecoming Scotland Cup. "He is strong, quick and is good with the ball in the air and on the ground. There is always speculation when you are a good player, so I suppose it is natural Christophe is being linked to various clubs."
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Berra responsibilities at Hearts have enabled him to shoot up the international pecking order. He is now a dependable understudy for the Celtic partnership of Gary Caldwell and Stephen McManus and his progress has enabled Burley to gradually phase-out David Weir, the Rangers stalwart.

"Christophe is now showing great leadership and organisation," said the former Hearts manager. "He seems to have gotten even better with the captaincy. At the last international get-together, I noticed the improvement in him and told him he would be getting 20 minutes against Argentina.

"If he continues that development he can go as far as he wants. He was a young boy when Steven Pressley and Andy Webster were around but he has matured with his experiences and will continue to do so."

Burley also offered encouragement to Robbie Neilson and Lee Wallace if they continue to help the Hearts revival. Neilson has only just returned from long-term injury but was outstanding this season. Wallace, sent off at Tynecastle for two fouls on Chris Burke, has also shown promise in left-back, a position in which Scotland have a dearth of competition, with Gary Naysmith the only experienced and naturally left-footed option.

"The door is always open for people who show improvement over a period of games," said Burley. "Sometimes people get into the squad because of injuries and do enough to stay in there. That is the challenge for a lot of people. If people are constantly proving themselves then there will be an opening. Lee Wallace had a few games under me and now he is playing regularly. Mark Wilson is another I have admired and one I remember from when he was at Dundee United but he has been unfortunate with his knee injuries."

At a time when Celtic's defeat to Aalborg has led to a debate on the dwindling status of Scottish football in a European context, Burley pointed to the rejuvenation of his old club as a reason to be optimistic on the competitive nature of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League. He is confident Hearts - Scottish Cup winners in 2006 - can compete for silverware again this season, despite drawing Hibernian at Easter Road, and challenge for European football again.

"It was only last season we were talking about how well our teams were doing in Europe and, while we should not be looking back the way, a lot of the games that went against our teams this season were very close," said Burley. "We still have some excellent players and Hearts have made a run for third place, which is exciting.

"Everybody is talking about Hearts and rightly so because winning five games on the trot in the SPL is no mean feat. What they have shown is that they are difficult to beat. They are not giving much away and Christophe has to take a lot of the credit for that. They are capable of competing this season, no doubt about it."

Taken from the Herald