Csaba Wants To Turn Berra Into ‘£20M Player’!

Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo has spoken of his desire for the club to hold onto captain Christophe Berra beyond this season, and hopes that if and when the day comes when he eventually does leave, that he will be able to bring in a significant sum of money to the Tynecastle coffers in the process.

Speaking to The Scotsman, Csaba had some interesting things to say about the potential comings and goings in the forthcoming and future transfer windows, with Berra being at the centre of the conversation:

‘I talk every day with the sport director (Anatoly Korobochka), the football department and the owner and we have the intention to build a good team’ he said.

‘We also have the intention to buy and sell, this is normal. It is also my intention to be successful.

‘Believe me, if Christophe Berra can bring £10million into this club then I can maybe find another player who is talented like Christophe and who can play together with Zaliukas.

‘This club sold Craig Gordon, maybe the best goalkeeper in Scotland for years, for £9million and I think this was a great offer. You know how much Bayern Munich paid for Luca Toni? £7million. If this club could sell Berra for £10million it would be great. But we would like to keep him.

‘I would like to make Christophe Berra into a player who could bring in £20 million.

‘I have a job and my job is to be a manager and plan what happens in my department.

‘You have to ask the question about players being sold to people who have the responsibility in that department.

‘If you lose four or five players I don’t think this is a good development for us. But if we could get five or six other players which I would like to have, it would be okay. A lot of people think if you can sign a good player then that is good. But the important thing is how they play in the team.’

Aside from the ‘£20 million’ comment, which is perhaps more a nod to whatever Csaba was smoking at the time than his actual valuation of Christophe Berra (!), the manager as ever talks a good game here. If those in charge of the purse strings are in a position where they can listen to him and take his advice on who should or shouldn’t be sold, then the January transfer window may well be a period of time that sees our team strengthening, as opposed to being decimated as many of the press are gleefully predicting. It’s a big ‘if’ though isn’t it…..