Lewis Neilson admits he is delighted with comparisons to John Souttar as he dreams of starring south of the border.
The Rangers defender made the similar step from Dundee United to Hearts as the current Tynecastle teenager and he has since moved on again and landed international honours as part of Steve Clarke's Scotland set up. The 19-year-old impressed for Robbie Neilson's side in the 3-2 weekend win over St Johnstone and admits while it is great to be spoken about in the same breathe as role model Souttar, he wants to be his own player.
The youngster has huge ambitions for his career with the ultimate dream to earn a move to the English Premier League. That may be a long way off just now, but he admits everyone must be ambitious with his full focus on Hearts and bidding to make himself a mainstay in the top team.
READ MORE: Hearts learn Europa Conference League fate as they face tough draw including Fiorentina
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He said: “To hear the gaffer saying that is nice as John is a brilliant role model and someone I look up to.
“He has 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 stay in this team first.
“The dream is long in the future but everyone has to be ambitious.”
Neilson admits he would love to play against superstar Mesut Ozil as Hearts get set for a European adventure.
They face Istanbul Basaksehir, Fiorentina and RFS in their Europa Conference League section with six exciting ties to be experienced by the capital club.
He continued: “I would love to make my European debut but it doesn’t matter who it is against, I will do my own thing.
“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 and I believe we can take points off of teams.
“We have some really exciting away days with Istanbul, Florence and Riga, 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 for a number of years.
“When he was in his prime at Arsenal he was great and I would love to play against him.
“It will be exciting to play against him 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.
“You don’t think about the names or anything, you play against your opponent and try to win the game.”
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