Wolves kept at bay by Hearts over Berra bid

WOLVERHAMPTON Wanderers believe their attempts to lure Christophe Berra south have failed, with manager Mick McCarthy stating Hearts have told him the club captain won't be leaving Tynecastle.

The Molineux board have turned their attention elsewhere having had two offers for Berra rebuffed by Hearts.

McCarthy believes the deal to be dead but Vladimir Romanov may choose to re-open negotiations at a later date.

McCarthy's most recent offer of £1.5 million was rejected by Romanov, the club's majority shareholder, who values the centre-back at £2m. Rangers have also recently been credited with an interest in the player.

"I'm still hopeful of getting another one (defender] in. We had a bid in for Berra, but that deal is dead," said McCarthy today.

"The deal won't be done at all. Hearts are saying he won't be going anywhere, so I've moved on.

"Who we get I don't know yet. It might be that someone comes from completely out of the woodwork from somewhere else which has never been mentioned. There are no other bids in at all. For the moment, the deal is dead as far as I'm concerned and we're looking elsewhere."

Hearts drew 1-1 with Glentoran in Belfast last night before losing 6-5 on penalties in what was new manager Csaba Laszlo's first match in charge. The Hungarian declared himself relatively satisfied with the team's performance but is keen to recruit "two or three" new signings before the new SPL season begins.

"After ten minutes, you see positions where you have a weakness, where the team doesn't move correctly," he said. "After ten minutes, you see directly whether the players have confidence or not, whether they want the ball or want to take a step back because they don't like to make a mistake. We have a very big squad, but I think it's necessary in two or three positions to get players with experience."

Laszlo also declared a belief that Hearts should always be Edinburgh's premier club but wants to see his players display a great work ethic.

"Nobody sleeps in professional football," he said. "We must work harder, maybe be more concentrated. If the team is spending eight hours at the training ground just now, then we must spend ten hours there. This is just what we must do. I have a German and Hungarian background, I can mix creativity with discipline and innovation.

"In this job, you have pressure in every game. Hearts is the oldest team in Edinburgh and firstly we must be number one in Edinburgh. The second wish I have for this season is to get back into European football. At the moment, we must not talk about first or second or third place. A coach who promises things early is not real. This team was eighth in the league last year, so we must go higher. The target is to qualify for Europe, after that we can take the next step.