Keep your eye on the ball and you’ll get big move to England
Neilson urges Paterson to focus on his fine form
IN Robbie Neilson’s eyes, Scotland full-back Callum Paterson is already good enough for the English game. But he insists he will only become a target for the world’s richest league by staying focused.
Hearts boss Neilson, thrilled to see Paterson become the first Gorgie boy to win a competitive Scotland cap since Lee Wallace in 2010, is resigned to losing the 21-year-old once his contract expires at the end of the season.
Having knocked back an offer from Wigan Athletic, starting at £600,000 plus various add-ons, the Tynecastle club know their prize asset is determined to try his luck south of the border — and will be free to talk to other clubs from January.
Neilson, pleased with Paterson’s performance in Scotland’s 5-1 World Cup qualifier thrashing of Malta last Sunday, declared: ‘Callum’s form from now until January or the end of the season will dictate what level in England he goes in at.
‘When he goes and plays on the football pitch, his form has to be top notch to stay in the Scotland team and get a potential move as high as he can go.
‘He’s definitely ready for the Championship but, if he really pushes himself, then maybe lower end of the English Premier League. Whether he can get there is difficult to say because clubs don’t really recruit from up here — but he’s definitely top end of the Championship.
‘It all depends how he progresses this year. If he is consistently doing well for us and Scotland, then he can make that step.
‘He’s still a young kid who is developing. Even to go from Scotland to a top-end Championship team is a massive jump but he’s more than comfortable doing that.
‘Whether he can then go and jump again straight away or has to do a year or two in the Championship is down to form.
‘We’ll keep chatting with Callum but he wants to go and play in England and you have to respect that. He’s been great for Hearts. He’s played 150-odd games and he’s at a stage where he wants to go south of the border.
‘We’ll get a substantial compensation fee for him, so we have to accept that as well. Whether it’s January, next summer or a year down the line, he’ll eventually be in England.’
Full Scotland internationals haven’t exactly been abundant around Tynecastle since the days when Wallace, and before him Michael Stewart or Neilson himself, were pulling on the dark blue.
Neilson sees it as a real honour — and incentive — for the entire club, saying: ‘It’s been a while since we had someone play in a competitive game. We had a few boys in friendly games.
‘It just shows we’re getting there and I hope a few more boys can progress into that team.
‘I hope all the players at the club look at Callum, not just the Scottish first-team boys but all the boys in the academy. They’ve seen a guy come through, work hard and get himself into the national team. I think there are a few others that will get there in years to come as well.
‘Once you get a competitive cap, it’s totally different from a friendly game. In a friendly game, a lot of players pull out and aren’t interested — it’s a trial basis for a lot of players.
‘Once you get into the competitive fixture, you’re the best right-back that Scotland’s got at the moment. That’s what he is.
‘We’ve brought in Arnaud Djoum, who is now a Cameroon international, and Faycal Rherras has come in and is playing for Morocco.
‘John Souttar will eventually step up but he’s still a bit away. He has a lot of development to do. I hope he keeps progressing because if he plays the way he is just now and progresses the way we hope he will, then he’s going to be a good player.’
Souttar is already a key member of the Scotland Under-21 team, although he was given a torrid time in Ukraine earlier this week, seeing red for conceding a penalty in stoppage time of a 4-0 skelping.
Neilson insists even that will do his player good, saying: ‘Sometimes you can get lulled into a false sense of security. You’re doing well in the Premiership and everything is going good and you’re getting good performances.
‘Then you go over to Ukraine and get turned over — and realise how far away we are. It’s always a good learning curve when you go and play against good teams and see where you need to get to.’
Rightly proud of a Hearts academy programme producing players on a regular basis, Neilson gives a cautious — and qualified — welcome to the idea of Premiership clubs fielding Under-20s Colts teams in the lower reaches of the SPFL. ‘It’s great for players to go out and play,’ he said. ‘But is it an actual Colts team or one with four or five senior players in it? ‘It’s great to get young players playing first-team football whether that’s in League One or League Two. But they need a bit of maturity around them. ‘That’s one of the down sides to the Development League. ‘You can’t put experienced players in it because at times they’re up against 14 and 15-year-old boys and you just can’t ask an international player to go and play in these games.’
“Callum wants to play down south. We must respect that”