IN HIS strongest indication yet that he is resigned to losing some of his best players this month, Hearts manager Csaba Laszlo has said he will put the long-term health of the club before any desire for short-term success.
Christophe Berra, Andy Driver and Laryea Kingston are among those players who could attract concrete offers from English clubs, and there is a reasonable chance that there will be departures between today, when Hearts are at home to Hibernian in the
league, and tomorrow week, when they visit Easter Road on Scottish Cup duty.
Having greatly improved the side since taking charge at the start of the season, Laszlo would like to keep his squad intact throughout the current campaign. But he knows that a cash injection will be very welcome at Tynecastle, and is prepared to deal with any enforced departures.
"I hope to have these players, but I also know you can never say never," Laszlo said. "If Berra, Kingston or someone else has a very good offer that can help this club and the player, you must look at what's best for the players and the team.
"If someone comes and gives £10million – OK, that's a fantasy figure – but if the money allows you to buy two other players and you can look to the future then it's legitimate (to sell the player]. Maybe also if the player himself gets the chance to move to a higher level it can allow us to get more Ian Blacks," he continued, referring to the Inverness Caledonian Thistle midfielder who has signed a pre-contract agreement to join Hearts in the summer.
Having had experience in several countries and at different levels of the game, Laszlo is aware that leaving Hearts would mean taking a step up in the game for some of his present players, just as joining the club represents an ascent for the likes of Black. "Young players such as him will come to us because they realise it's possible to go to a higher level," he continued.
"This is all normal in football, and I would be happy and proud to be a coach if clubs such as Liverpool, Chelsea or Manchester United come in and take Christophe Berra, for example. We could then say we gave something to this player to allow him to move to such a club and that's also my job."
In contrast to some of his predecessors, Laszlo appears to have had a free hand when it comes to selecting the Hearts team. When it comes to deciding which offers for players to accept, however, he knows that will be up to the club owner, Vladimir Romanov.
"Mr Romanov and I speak every day, especially at this time of the year," he said. "We have a lot of young players interesting other clubs and the owner is happy about this improvement in the players and their work.
"We would like to go higher and higher in the table, but we must also look at other things and it's important to stabilise and improve the team on last season. Mr Romanov is happy about this, I think."
