Christophe Berra is ready to follow in the footsteps of Craig Gordon and join Sunderland, if Heart of Midlothian can agree on a £3million fee for their captain. The Scotland centre-back has risen to the head of the wishlist of the Barclays Premier League side, whose Scottish manager, Ricky Sbragia, is beset by injuries to his defenders.

Sbragia knows that Hearts' financial problems mean that the Edinburgh club cannot afford to wait too long for a better offer - they turned down a £1.5million offer from Wolverhampton Wanderers in the last transfer window - and Berra's desire to play in England should see him reunited with Gordon, the Scotland goalkeeper, who was sold by Hearts to Sunderland last season for £9million.

Sunderland want a quick resolution because Wolves, Fulham and Bolton Wanderers are also said to be interested in Berra.

The defender was keen to move to Wolves last summer but that was vetoed by Vladimir Romanov, the owner of Hearts, who has since revised his plans at Tynecastle and admitted that players would have to be sold in January to raise urgent funds for a club whose debt had climbed to £32million, held by the Lithuanian bank, Ukio, in which Romanov has a stake.

Another Hearts asset, Andrew Driver, was yesterday linked with Dynamo Kiev. The Ukrainian side have contacted Hearts about the 21-year-old forward but so far no bid has been tabled. Burnley failed with two summer offers of more than £500,000 for the winger, who has also been linked with Everton.

However, Csaba Laszlo, the Hearts manager, will be able to make one signing. Janos Balogh, the goalkeeper, will turn his loan from Debrecen into a permanent move after agreeing personal terms yesterday on a 2-year contract. However, the Hungarian club will have to wait another four months for Hearts to pay the £180,000 fee, which is a sign of how tight finances are around Tynecastle.

“We have agreed the transfer money for Janos Balogh will be paid on May 1,” a spokesman for Debrecen said yesterday. “We're happy with this arrangement and we trust Hearts will meet the terms and conditions of the deal when that time comes.”

Taken from timesonline.co.uk