Should he stay or should he go: Christophe Berra

For those of you who haven’t heard of him, let me assure you. Christophe Berra is the real thing. A central defender with speed, skill and aerial ability, capable of great tenacious play against international-quality offenses. Granted, the only international-quality attacks he has seen have come from Celtic and Rangers, but he has held up well against them, even shepherding his Hearts squad to a shutout win over Celtic in the league cup this season. At 23 years old, he is the captain of Hearts, one of the youngest in their history. He was on the bench for Scotland’s 1-1 draw with Croatia last month, but wasn’t called to play. It would have been his first full senior cap.

Now, Berra’s play throughout the season has been recognized further afield, and the most visible suitor for his services is Wolves in the Championship. The question for me, as a fan of Scotland and not particularly of Hearts, is where would he be best utilized and best able to continue to develop as a Scotland international?

There are a number of issues at play here. First, he has quite a bit of competition in central defense. The Celtic pairing of Stephen McManus and Gary Caldwell were quite effective in the Croatia match, and though his days in a Scotland shirt are coming to an end, Davie Wier certainly still plays a role there as well. He also has direct competition from Russell Anderson, who Burley chose to come off the bench instead of Berra last month. So, this is not a spot that will be gifted to Berra – he has to earn it.

As for me, though the Championship might feature some great sides and a higher level of overall quality than the SPL, (this is up for debate, certainly) I think his best move is to stay right where he is in Edinburgh. Burley formerly coached Hearts, famously taking them to top of the table before being sacked by Vlad Romanov for some ungodly reason no one but Vlad Romanov understands. It’s a side that Burley watches and cares about. Besides, a captaincy has to count for something, and no way does Berra get a captain’s armband anytime soon at Wolves. Like crosstown rivals, Hibs, though, Hearts have had a bit of a problem holding on to their talent in the past, with either the Old Firm or England coming and stealing them away. I really do hope this one is an exception.

Speaking of Hearts, there’s another defender there that should be on the radar for the Scotland national side, and that’s Lee Wallace at left back, our poorest defending position. But that’s for another post.