Csaba Laszlo, the Hearts manager, claims he may be powerless to prevent the sale of key players during this month�s transfer window.
Csaba Laszlo, the Hearts manager, claims he may be powerless to prevent the sale of key players during this month's transfer window.
Players such as Laryea Kingston, Andrew Driver and Christophe Berra have all been linked with moves and Laszlo admits that, depending on the scale of any bids they receive, some of them could be moved on with a view to funding the arrival of promising young players such as Ian Black, who recently signed a pre-contract agreement.
"As a coach, I hope to have these players, but I also know you can never say never and 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 £10m - okay, 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 move them on.
"Maybe also if the player himself get the chance to move to a higher level it can allow us to get more Ian Blacks. Young players such as him will come to us because they realise it's possible to go to a higher level.
"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."
Hearts have been in excellent form over the past couple of months. Before last weekend's 1-0 reverse to Aberdeen, they had won five and drawn two of their previous seven games and are up to fourth in the league ahead of today's Edinburgh derby.
Laszlo admits the club's owner, Vladimir Romanov, has been delighted with recent results. "Every owner is happy if his team improves," he said. "Mr Romanov and I speak every day, especially at this time of the year as the transfer window prepares to open.
"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 know 100% 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."
The first Edinburgh derby in October ended 1-1 and today's encounter at Tynecastle will be another tightly fought encounter. While Hearts lost to Aberdeen last weekend, Hibs also went down 4-2 to Kilmarnock at Easter Road.
"I don't like to talk too much about my opponents, but they have problems with their central defence and their captain Rob Jones, who is injured. Before, he Mixu Paatalainen, the Hibs manager played 4-4-3 and now it's 4-4-2. He changed tactics because it was not so successful and now there is some confusion in the team. However, we must look to our strength and that's the spirit we have at Tynecastle.
"The coach of Hibs will also be looking at us and thinking: No Lee Wallace who is suspended and they aren't scoring up front', but we believe we're dangerous from every position. We don't just rely on our strikers to score: players such as Eggert Jonsson and Christophe Berra can also find the net. For me, it's most important for us to be a team on the field, and don't lose our discipline."
Edinburgh derbies are notoriously combustible affairs and Hearts have struggled to maintain their discipline in recent times. Wallace and Marius Zaliukas were both sent off last weekend and miss today's game.
Laszlo will stress to his players the importance of rising above the derby atmosphere.
"It's important for players to know this is a normal game and their concentration levels must be at 100%, just as they would be for Falkirk or Dundee United. But maybe derby games are more important - also with Celtic and Rangers - and you certainly never know what will happen in them.
"For example, our last derby was a draw. We lost a goal in the first minute and came back to equalise and then it became like a typical 0-0 game again with chances for both sides. At the weekend, Celtic defeated Rangers 1-0, but who would have thought Rangers would have won 4-2 at the home of their rivals earlier in the season?
"I guess this is the most interesting thing about derby matches; you never know what is going to happen in them. There's never a home team on these occasions."
