Claudio Braga addresses Hearts future amid transfer links as striker details Wouter Vrancken talks
The Hearts striker has front up mounting speculation over a summer transfer.
Claudio Braga says he is happy at Hearts as he puts focus on the Champions League football rather than transfer talk.
The Portuguese forward has attracted attention after a standout first term at Tynecastle where he scooped several Player of the Year awards following his move from Norwegian outfit Aalesunds. There is interest from Ligue 1’s Lyon and other clubs, with Jambos officials seeking £8m to £10m to sell a prized asset.
That is not the focus for Braga though with a Champions League second round qualifier first leg versus Sturm Graz upcoming this Tuesday. A return leg takes place at Tynecastle on July 28, and with how huge those matches are for Hearts after last term’s second placed finish in the Premiership, rumours are left with his agents following talks with head coach Wouter Vrancken.
Claudio Braga on transfer speculation
“We have a very, very important game, maybe one of the most important games for the club in the past years,” Braga said. “I'm here and I'm completely focused on that. Of course, it’s interest, but at the same time, I can't focus about that while I'm here. I’m here, I'm a Hearts player and that's all you guys need to know, and that's all I need to feel. I’m a Hearts player and I'm here 100 per cent.
“I'm trying to be as professional as I can and not care about that, because I leave that to my agents. We had talks in the beginning but I told him exactly the same as I told you guys. I’m here 100 per cent. I'm a Heart player. I'm really happy. I was really happy here last year. It didn't change nothing. I'm really happy now. Of course, there may be interest or not, but that's something that I can't control or can't focus on while I'm here. That would just be bad for me and for the club. I’m just focussing on Stum Graz now.”
Playing in the matches like the ones ahead versus Austrian opposition is the type of thing Braga dreamed about back as a kid in Portugal. He will go into the match surrounded by several new faces after a busy summer of recruitment at Hearts and is confident everyone will be able to adapt in a high quality start to this season.
“I’m very excited, of course,” Braga explained. “I’ve been saying this a lot, it's any player's dream to play Champions League. Even though it's qualifiers, I think everybody wants to play that kind of game, against big teams in different stages. Just to talk about European games is something really good as a player and I feel all the team is in the same thinking as me. Everybody feels happy, everybody gets a lot of minutes and then it comes to the coach to decide the team, but I think everybody's ready.
“I’ve dreamed of this since I was three or four! Every time I saw football, of course, you play football and you like to watch these kind of games more than anything. To watch Champions League and for it to be possible to be a part of it is something really big. Of course, it's different leagues that we came from, but at the same time, once you get here, because there are so many new guys, you just need to adapt fast and you can do it because there are a lot of new guys.
Claudio Braga on playing in the Champions League
“I think everybody, also the more experienced guys, are trying to transmit that to the guys that came in. The league is intense, the league is aggressive, so you maybe don't have as much time on the ball as you had in other leagues. I think the communication in the group is really good and I feel we're doing well.”
Vrancken’s ball-playing 4-2-3-1 style is a change from predecessor Derek McInnes’ tried and trusted 4-4-2 that had Braga largely playing with a strike partner. In Friday’s friendly win over La Liga side Rayo Vallecano, the 26-year-old played behind number nine Amadou Ba-Sy, then as the main forward for what he had left on the pitch. It’s new but Braga insists Hearts head to Austria with confidence in the Belgian’s methods.
“I think I have two options in this case,” Braga added. “Play as a false nine like I was playing in the first half or as a lone striker with a 10 behind me. It just depends on the position, it's different of course. When I'm playing as a striker, I need to hold up a little bit more, and just try to stretch the team a little bit more instead of coming as much. As a 10, it's more a little bit about freedom and just try to link up and be that extra man in the midfield and then just also go to the box.
“I'm also a striker, so if I'm playing 10, then I can link up and still go to the box, which is good and I like it. But if I'm playing as a striker, that's the position that I play all my life, so I really like it. I think it's kind of a striker role. There's not that much difference on what he tells me, but I think we have a good communication about that, and of course some details here and there. But whatever he tells me, I try to follow up to the max.
“I feel like we have a good team. We proved it last year, a lot of new players, but we proved it on Friday also that we can play against international teams and we can still do a good job. I think we need to be confident. We're not going to Sturm Graz to lose or to draw. We're going there to win and make the best result possible and then even better, hopefully, at Tynecastle. I feel we are confident in the locker room.”