Christophe Berra’s future is again the subject of speculation this morning with claims he could return to his former club Hearts as part of a swap deal with Scotland international right-back Callum Paterson, who is currently sidelined with a long-term injury, moving in the opposite direction.

According to the Scottish Sun Berra is “desperate” to move on from Town and rejoin his hometown club where he started his career.

Town are said to be willing to allow him to return to Tynecastle if Paterson were to move in the opposite direction, despite the 22-year-old, whose contract is up in the summer, being out for 10 months having undergone surgery on cruciate ligament injury last week.

Prior to suffering the injury at the end of December, Paterson had turned down new terms with Hearts and was keen on a move to England with West Ham reportedly set to make a move for him in January.

Born in London but brought up near Edinburgh, Paterson, who has won five full Scotland caps in addition to appearances at U18, U19 and U21 levels, came through the youth system at Tynecastle and made his senior debut as a 17-year-old.

It’s not the first time there have been reports that Berra could move back to Hearts during the January transfer window.

Town manager Mick McCarthy recently dismissed a claim that the Blues were in talks to settle the final six months of Berra’s contract to allow him to return to the SPL side.

“That is just ridiculous,” McCarthy said, speaking 10 days ago. “Have you seen how many players we’ve had recently, the squad and the substitutes we’ve had? And I would be settling up Christophe Berra’s contract, who has played every single game? I don’t think so.

“How ridiculous that rumour is. There are rumours that might be close to the truth, but that’s as far away from the truth as you can get. It’s nuts.”

He added: “We’ve got an option on him to sign him [for a further year], he’s our player for the next 18 months if that’s what we want to do.

“I can’t see any reason why I wouldn’t want to keep Christophe Berra, he’s been different class, he’s arguably been our best defender for the last four years.

“He’s certainly been one of the top ones and has consistently played. He’s staying here as far as I’m concerned.”

Town are currently short of central defenders with Adam Webster out for the season with an ankle injury and Tommy Smith not expected to return to match action until mid-February after back surgery, although he returned to full training earlier in the week.

However, former Newcastle central defender Steven Taylor, 31, has been training with the club this week with a view to winning a contract having left MLS side the Portland Timbers in December.

Despite McCarthy having dismissed the previous link, Berra has said he intends to return to Scotland at some stage.

Speaking in September, he said: “I’ve had a great time down here and as I’ve said before my daughter is four and at some point I’d want to go back home.

“That’s obvious — all my family and friends are there — but at the moment I’m enjoying my football. Ipswich have been good to me and hopefully I can repay them.”

Photo: TWTD

Bergholtblue added 13:25 - Jan 26 Whilst it would appear madness to take on a player with a long term injury we would never be able to afford to buy a fully fit Patterson. A straight swap with no money changing hands is not that bad a deal really. But have I read this report correctly? He has been out for 10 months and yet only had his operation last week. What the hell have Hearts been doing all this time?

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blackcat added 13:28 - Jan 26 Probably plays better than berra even while crocked
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rgp1 added 13:29 - Jan 26 When a player signs for town, is there an attachment to the contract entitled 'directions to the treatment room'?
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bentley_blue added 13:50 - Jan 26 Can we swap Douglas for some magic beans?
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nysully added 13:59 - Jan 26 Sadly Berra needs to go and probably best that he leaves right now as his head and heart not in it. He is making mistakes that normally he would never make. Him beaten when drawn to the wing vs Liam Feeney is understandable as he is out of his comfort zone but when he misjudges fairly simple headers and has constant communication breakdowns it shows me he is not playing at his best. Yes he is getting older but his mistakes these days in the air are almost unforgivable. He owes us nothing and send him home. Sadly that will mean we may have to sign Steven Taylor till the end of the season but he can only be as bad as Berra has been for the past two month.

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trevski added 00:19 - Jan 27 As much as it would be a shame to see Berra go I think this would be a good deal. Yes Berra has been a great work horse for us at times but he has messed up a bit this season (intentional or not is to be decided) but a straight swap for a proven young international would be a good deal. He may be out for 10 months but we just got Taylor in who could add some great experience to the defence and Smith will be back soon as well. If we go back to 4 at the back could have either Smith/Taylor/Chambo in the middle and by the time Paterson will be back, if we only keep Taylor on the short term, he will be gone by then. This means that Emmanuel gets more opportunity to play at RB or RWB until Paterson comes in who probably could teach Emmanuel quite a bit. Also to be fair if Berra does want to move back up to Scotland, Mick shouldn't really deny it otherwise Berra will just under-perform or no show on purpose and then no-one would want him

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