D-Day looms for Berisha

Last updated : 27 June 2007 By Tony Scholes
When Besart Berisha played at Burnley for Albania I don't suspect many Burnley fans there that night thought they would ever see him play again, other than perhaps on television. He'd impressed everyone and certainly at half time his was the name on everyone's lips.

Just over two weeks later I'm not so sure many would have remembered his name, but on Monday 11th June news broke that the Clarets had signed him from Hamburg for £340,000. Early the following morning the German Bundesliga club confirmed the move although there was no confirmation from Burnley.

Speculation followed that there could be a need for a work permit, and Hamburg then suddenly withdrew the news they had given out earlier in the day. But on the Wednesday Burnley finally confirmed they'd signed him subject to a work permit.

That's two weeks ago today, and tomorrow our legal team head to Sheffield for the work permit hearing, probably to the same hotel we headed to two years ago. On that occasion we failed, but this time everyone appears confident that by the end of tomorrow Besart Berisha will be a Burnley player.

Steve Cotterill was confident of a positive outcome two weeks ago and remains so. He said yesterday: "I think we have prepared as well as we can. This time, one of the integral parts is the whole package of the player. We have paid a fee for Besart, but also the length of the player's contract will hopefully determine things and we are hopeful of a favourable outcome."

The player's agent in Germany Henner Janzen is also confident although admits he won't be able to influence any decision. "As far as I understand this panel exists to prove that a player who comes from a non EU country is of a better quality than a British player of the same age and we really hope to convince the judges," said Janzen.

He added: "I won't be at the hearing, I can't really help because, from my point of view, it is a very British matter and it is better that the British solicitors deal with it. I'm a solicitor in Germany and know the German law and know how to answer it. It is something else in Great Britain and I have full trust in the solicitor. We are very confident. We wouldn't have taken the step to agree a deal if we hadn't got this confidence."

Usually the Home Office decision is released on the same day so sometime tomorrow we should know whether Besart Berisha is able to complete his three year deal and become a Claret.