SEAN Clare, the new Hearts signing, has vowed to take inspiration from Dele Alli after drawing comparisons with the England midfielder.
The Edinburgh club completed a major transfer coup by securing the highly rated 21-year-old, fighting off a number of interested parties in England following his decision to reject the offer of an extended contract at Sheffield Wednesday.
The explosive midfielder gained rave reviews during a loan stint at Gillingham last term before returning to Hillsborough in January and playing five games for his parent club – finding the net against Aston Villa.
Clare’s languid look, direct running and desire to get into the box has prompted comparisons with Alli – Tottenham were even credited with an interest in the player – and, although not a tag he would give himself, it is a flattering one.
“I’ve had that comparison with Dele Alli – but I’ve never said it,” he said. “I think it’s potentially because we look fairly similar. "I can see why people have said it because we have a similar running style and we both like to get involved in goals and assists.
“I probably dribble a lot more with the ball and am more direct than him but I definitely look at his games to take bits from it that I feel can improve my game. I’m very direct and like to dribble with it, a lot of taking players on but obviously not too much. The team’s more important. I think I can bring a very direct nature, goals and assists from set pieces or within the game.
“I’m someone who’s very athletic, energetic and really passionate to win games and trophies – like the fans are.”
Could that trophy be the Premiership title? He sees no reason why not.
Clare arrives at Hearts at a time when they have registered five consecutive league wins and boast a five-point lead over Celtic at the summit. As Hearts march on, their latest addition has lofty aspirations.
“My honest opinion is any team in this league can win it if they really knuckle down,” he said. “Some teams have a higher budget or this, that and the other but anything is possible. In football, once you get on the pitch it’s 11 v 11 but coming in to a team that’s top of the league is a great feeling.
"The boys are buzzing, the staff are buzzing, training’s really fast and everyone’s working really hard to be better for the next game and keep winning. We’ll just have to see how far it takes us.”
Given Clare has attracted scouts from Spurs, Everton, Leicester and Wednesday were desperate to keep him at the club, his decision to join Hearts has raised plenty of eyebrows among some in England.
However, he has no doubt he has made the correct decision and has dismissed any notion that the favourable compensation terms afforded to Scottish clubs compared to their English neighbours was a factor.
“I can understand why some people have questioned the decision to come up here,” he added. “It is difficult to understand moves if you aren’t in my shoes. I’m sure if I had a conversation with people then they would understand it more. I expected that reaction and it doesn’t faze me. People don’t know exactly what is going on in my head.
“I don’t think my compensation was a lot regardless of the club. With the clubs I did speak to in England, that was never a problem, so I don’t think that hindered anything – and it didn’t sway my decision. I came to Hearts because I wanted to be here.
“I felt the management staff really wanted to make me better. That’s something I want. I believe in myself, but to have coaches that really believe in you is important and can kick you on 10 more levels than you ever thought you could get to.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here