I want to be a Hearts regular and then dream of move to English top tier, says Lewis

AS a ball-playing centre-back who has moved from Dundee United to Hearts, Lewis Neilson is taking the first steps along a path once trod by John Souttar. The 19-year-old certainly hopes he can flourish at Tynecastle in a similar manner to the Rangers and Scotland defender. His respect for Souttar is clear. For Neilson, though, the ultimate aim is to make his own name and reach the English Premier League. That’s clearly for the longer term. More outings at Hearts are the immediate priority after a first start was handled well in Sunday’s incident-packed 3-2 win over St Johnstone. Afterwards, manager Robbie Neilson expressed confidence in his young namesake but added that, like Souttar’s early days, care would be taken with his development. ‘To hear the gaffer saying that is nice as John is a brilliant role model and someone I look up to,’ enthused defender Neilson (pictured). ‘He came from Dundee United to Hearts, the same as me, played first-team football and now has a move to Rangers. Hopefully, he does well there. ‘It’s great to be compared to him but I want to be my own player. ‘I want to be the full package as a centre-half, be good with the ball and without it. I want to kick on in my career and play at the very top level that I can. ‘I would love to go south and play in the English Premier League. I know that’s a big ambition but I have to produce it here first if I want to achieve that. I look at it one game at a time and I am fully focused on Hearts and staying in this team first. ‘The dream is long in the future but everyone has to be ambitious.’ Neilson’s hopes of further first-team exposure will be aided by the fixture list confronting Hearts, with the six Europa Conference League group stage games adding to a packed programme. Istanbul Basaksehir, who have ex-Real Madrid and Arsenal star Mesut Ozil in their ranks, arrive at Tynecastle a week on Thursday. ‘I would love to make my European debut but it doesn’t matter who it is against, I will do my own thing,’ stressed Neilson. ‘If it is Mesut Ozil and Basaksehir, if it is St Johnstone, if it is Celtic, or whoever, I will play the same way and give it my all. ‘When we saw the draw, it went down well and I think we have a good chance to go through. I believe we can take points off teams. We have some really exciting away days, so they will be good trips. ‘I have watched Ozil on Match of the Day over the years and he has been a very good player. ‘When he was in his prime at Arsenal, he was great and I would love to play against him. ‘It will be exciting but we have to go toe-to-toe with them. ‘We are confident enough that we can do that against all the teams we will face.’