ALMOST at the same time as one Scottish internationalist, Craig Burley joined Derby County, another of Craig Brown's men, Hearts defender Paul Ritchie, was in discussion with the same English Premiership club. If Ritchie does agree to move then it is likely that a swop deal involving Derby defender Spencer Prior, with perhaps #500,000 cash thrown in as makeweight, will settle the transfer. However, it seems certain that the Tynecastle man will delay any decision until much later in the season.

After a day of hectic movement concerning both Celtic and Hearts, the surprise punchline was the involvement of Ritchie, whose future had been widely assumed to be with Rangers, and in the end probably will be.

However, it seems that he was persuaded to have talks with the English Premiership side and for Tynecastle manager Jim Jefferies that is good news, as he would prefer to receive a fee plus Prior, instead of nothing at all if Ritchie had seen out his contract.

Burley's move has been a drawn-out saga but Derby paraded their new man at their Pride Park Stadium following a day of negotiations with him and his agent, Gordon Smith, after confirming that the #3m deal was settled and the hurdle that had stood between them and a successful conclusion, his signing-on fee from Celtic, had been overcome.

The move has been attended by contradictions since its inception, with the comments from head coach John Barnes seeming to indicate that he would have preferred to keep the player and, indeed, suggesting only on Tuesday that he had assumed there was no move on the cards.

However, for some time it has been apparent to both Burley and his agent that Celtic wished to do a deal that would bring in #3m. Whatever the background, Burley felt that he was being manoeuvred out the door and he has been proved correct.

His reluctance to go was because, simply, he liked playing for Celtic, and the reason that the original Derby move did not get to the starting stalls was because Burley based his side of the financial dispute with Celtic on his desire to stay where he is. The signing-on fee he had been promised two and a half years ago when he joined from Chelsea for #2.5m was to be paid over the whole term of his contract but he felt that, if the club wanted him to go now, then he should get the lot, around #250,000.

That dispute seems to have been settled, which left the way open for his agent to begin discussions to meet his personal terms with Derby.

''At no point did John Barnes say I wouldn't play. As far as I was concerned, I would play away until I was told otherwise,'' Burley said. ''I never asked to leave the club but things progressed over the last couple of weeks.

''It is not up to me to tell John Barnes what he's doing. The club decided to accept the bid for me and then I had to make the decision from there. As I said, it was totally my decision and if I didn't feel it was right for me, I would have said no, but I was interested from the word go.

''Celtic are a massive club but I was sad to leave Chelsea when I did. Things worked out fantastically well for me and I had a magnificent couple of years up there. But things move on and I felt it was the right time, at 28, to try a new challenge back in England.''

Barnes later confirmed what Burley said when he stated that the club had accepted the offer and after that it was up to the player to agree or not. ''If he had said no, he would still have been involved in our team.''

Midfielder Morten Wieghorst, scorer of the goal that beat Dundee last night, admitted that the players found Burley's departure ''a strange decision.'' He added: ''But players are not told everything and we just have to get on with playing as well as we can for Celtic.''

However, Burley did admit that he had been concerned by the shake-up Celtic experienced when Barnes joined as coach after a lengthy boardroom battle. ''Everybody has got their own opinion

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on players so as soon as I knew that Josef Venglos was leaving, there was always a doubt in my mind over whether I would be part of it.''

Ritchie was given permission to talk with Derby manager Jim Smith last night. If Smith persuades him to move, Hearts would be keen to take Prior in a swop deal.

Said Jefferies: ''Derby made an inquiry for Paul and we have allowed them to speak to him. We said from the outset that if we got an offer we considered good enough for Paul, then that would be allowed to happen.

''We gave him permission to speak, and he was away talking to Derby last night.''

Rangers had two bids, the later one of #1m, rejected for the player at the start of the season but Jefferies added: ''We are not going to get the same money Rangers offered before. That is because they made an offer at the start of the season, but Paul is now nearer the end of his contract.

''We don't know how the deal with Derby will be structured if it does happen. But, if Paul were to go, something could involve Prior, as he is a player we are interested in.''

Whatever happens, Hearts hope to have two new players signed in time for their televised match against Dundee United on Sunday. One is former Rangers and Dundee United defender Gordan Petric, who is set to sign for the club today from Greek side AEK Athens for a fee of around #500,000.

The name of the other player is being kept quiet but a similar bid has been lodged for a striker.

Also flying into Edinburgh in time for Sunday's game will be AC Milan defensive midfielder Joachim Fernandez, 26, who is out of contract at the end of the season and is available for free under the Bosman ruling.

Jefferies said last night that the player, who has recently been on loan to Udinese, would watch the Dundee United game and he hoped contract talks could take place after that.

''Fernandez is obviously someone who has played at a very high level in Italy and when we got the opportunity to get him over and have a better look at him, we decided we had nothing to lose.

''He is a player who has been highly recommended to us and we want to have a close look at him. We're hoping he will stay to train with us next week.''

Another likely signing is Jamaican World Cup player Fitzroy Simpson, of Portsmouth, who has indicated he is keen to sign for the Tynecastle club.

Although Dunfermline striker Andy Smith has decided to go on loan to Kilmarnock rather than Hearts, sources at the club suggest that they may consider trying to sign the player on a permanent basis if he is still available.

The reason for the transfer activity at Hearts is the #4m Jefferies has to spend from the investment by Scottish Media Group in the club. He has already had a bid in the region of #1m for Motherwell's Lee McCulloch turned down but insists he will not be rushed into spending.

However, he will need a big squad to chose from in the coming weeks, as Hearts have seven games scheduled between Sunday and December 28.