Christophe Berra has dropped his strongest hint yet that his time at Ipswich could be up at the end of the season when his current contract expires.

Berra, 31, has the difficult decision whether to extend his time south of the border to eight years — he was at Wolves for four and by next summer will have spent a similar period at Portman Road — or return to his native Edinburgh in order to spend more time with his young daughter.

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.”

Berra, who has netted 12 times in 147 appearances for Town, would not be short of offers if he chose to move back to Scotland, with former club Hearts one possible destination — but should he help Town win promotion to the Premier League it would make his decision all the more difficult.

He already has one eye on the future, intending to move into coaching and management when his playing days are over, but he is prepared to wait before following Town team-mates Luke Chambers and Jonathan Douglas, who have already started out on the road to gaining the necessary qualifications.

Berra added: “I want to do my coaching badges but not just yet. I’m still involved at international level with Scotland and the sessions are usually on in the summer when we have a game or just after we’ve played.

“To be honest I need to make time for myself so that I can take my daughter on holiday and do things like that. Hopefully there is still plenty of time for that.

“I’ve been in the Scotland squads regularly for about eight years and I’ve always turned up. I’ve missed very few through injury. I’ll still be there until that changes.

“It can obviously be frustrating when you travel and don’t get a game but I’m not the only one who misses out.

“You can have another 12 or 13 who are in the same position but I’m fortunate to have won 33 caps and you just have to get on with it. Life is short so you have to make the most of it sometimes.

“The aim is obviously to qualify for the World Cup finals in Russia in 2018, which will be difficult, that’s what we all strive for and only time will tell.”

Meanwhile, Berra is preparing to face fellow countryman Ross McCormack when big-spending Aston Villa, currently 17th in the Championship, come to town tomorrow searching for what would only be their second win of the season.

Berra admitted: “On paper Villa have a great squad. They have a lot of good players and have spent a lot of money.

“I’m sure they are not that far away but hopefully we can make it a difficult game for them at Portman Road, which a lot of teams have found in the past. That’s what we will be going all out to do.

“Ross is a top player and he has scored a lot of goals over the last three or four seasons. We’ll have to watch him but there are numerous other players who are dangerous.”

Asked if he was surprised that no Premier League had taken a punt on McCormack, who cost £12 million from Fulham last month and has netted twice in seven league games for Villa, Berra replied: “I suppose it’s down to budgets and to be honest these days the Premier League is worldwide and clubs are probably looking abroad for players they can sign for less money.

“Foreign players are generally cheaper and the British market is inflated, which means you can go to Brazil, Spain or wherever and find good strikers for half the price. It all depends on clubs’ budgets and the way they want to progress.”

Photo: TWTD

Dissboyitfc added 06:13 - Sep 16 smith should start ahead of him!
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The_Romford_Blue added 06:21 - Sep 16 Not a major surprise tbh. Only think he would stay If we got promoted.
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Keaneish added 06:24 - Sep 16 Sorry to break it to you Christophe, and seemingly to many other fans, but playing like we have been for the last 18 months, we will most definitely not be getting to the Premier League any time soon. 4 places in the top 6 have pretty much already gone and we're miles away from being the best two from the rest...
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Flewstar85 added 06:24 - Sep 16 Bye!!
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battyblue added 06:35 - Sep 16 Dissboyitfc,,,not sure i agree with you on this one i believe Berra has attributes that Smith doesn't and Maybe Smith has a few that Berra doesn't so the two rolled together wold make a really decent C/B.
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Dissboyitfc added 06:57 - Sep 16 Thats ok Battyblue, i just dont rate brera, there are times he has kept his place when he shouldnt have kept his place.MM has his favourites.
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osborne added 06:57 - Sep 16 Remember that machine from 'The Fly'. Could create a Chrimmy Smirra.
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Dissboyitfc added 07:03 - Sep 16 Our defence is not good enough to get us promoted, but for our goalkeeper our league position would be so much worse. I am sure when Bart gets mentioned post match, MM twists to how wonderful Gerks is, the second Bart has an off game MM will restore Gerks to goal, just watch!
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DurhamTownFan added 07:16 - Sep 16 At the moment I still think he's better than smith. Smith has a tendency to get a bit tangled or hesitant at key points when ball is coming over, which you don't really see from Berra. Having said that, I still think smith is good enough for this division, should Berra leave. Some criticise his distribution (including me) but I think that's mainly due to what MM is telling him to do ('chip it down the line into the corners' etc)

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oldblue added 07:44 - Sep 16 I really cannot see why there is so much criticism about Berra..he is an accomplished out and out defender..why can you not see that.try watching the game a little more with clear spectacles on and not blue tinted..I rate Smith and Webster highly too..we are lucky to have such a good defensive option ..heaven knows we need it as they have to get through some real work every single game.Keeping the ball better should be your main concern .

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Europablue added 07:54 - Sep 16 It's a very simple decision. If he can move to be close to his daughter he really should.
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Mr_Evans added 08:06 - Sep 16 Berra is a very intelligent footballer. He doesn't have to throw in last ditch blocks or tackles because 9 times out of ten he's in the right place at the right time. Berra commands the back four and Webster would be better off learning from him rather than Smith. As much as I do like Tommy, it's his positioning and distribution that lets him down. Berra is a strong presence, in the changing room, you could see that by his reaction when Bart made that dast second save against Derby and if you watch him, Berra tends to be the player that communicates with the referee more so than Chambers. I'd rather Berra as our captain for the next 2/3 years.

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pegasus added 08:28 - Sep 16 Christophe Berra is a shrewd bloke and a canny footballer. He suffered a loss of form last season. Absence from his young daughter may explain this. The couple of times I've seen him on TV this year I'd say his form was getting back to the best we've seen for Ipswich. And don't forget he's a valued member of Gordon Strachan's Scotland set-up. His role is key this year.

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HarryS_H added 08:32 - Sep 16 I would praise Tommy Smith for his distribution, he may do too many long balls for some people's liking but these almost always find a town head and Tommy is more confident to run with the ball a bit and brings more pace to the table. Smith and berra are two completely different defenders and maybe while Webster develops it would be best to have christoph in there just as a rock but looking forward I think a Smith/Webster partnership would be excellent maybe give it a go when a lesser team comes to Portman road and I'm sure the overall team performance would improve

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Burnzee1991 added 08:36 - Sep 16 I personally think Berra is by far our best CB in the current squad, the thing that is likely to keep him south of the border is the wage packet he would be taking a big pay cut to return home.
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oldblue added 08:36 - Sep 16 Nice to see some more considered opinion on players rather than the usual shoot from the hip rubbish that is often portrayed on this page..well done
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DurhamTownFan added 08:46 - Sep 16 Maybe MM has an agreement with Berra that he can go at the end of this year, after he's helped train up Webster? This seems likely to me.
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cornishblu added 09:02 - Sep 16 Ironic thing is though if we got promoted he is long past being good enough for the premiership so shouldn't be here anyway .....but one of MM favourites so probably would get a fat contract and then sit on the bench!! ....makes you also wonder about Luke,s focus ....hopefully though he is getting the coaching badges so he can teach himself how to be a good RB....because MM certainly isn't !! COYB

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Currie10 added 09:54 - Sep 16 Fair play if you want to Berra, the glue of the defence the past few years. Top performer.
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ThatMuhrenCross added 10:19 - Sep 16 As much as I've been a fan of Berra, this should really be a hint to McCarthy that now's the time to invest a little more time in Smith and Webster as a partnership. They're the future, if managed right, and it'll only work out better in the long-run if they start to get some game time together.
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BwoodBlue added 10:40 - Sep 16 Can't see how some fans criticize Berra - he lost a bit of form last season but two years ago he was probably the best centre half in the Championship - at times he appeared to block almost everything - I suspect it might be the case that he will leave if we don't get promoted but he would be a loss either way
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Gazelle added 10:50 - Sep 16 Sounds like he's getting a bit homesick. Been our top player but now might be the time to step down once Webster gets settled in.
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Sospiri added 10:57 - Sep 16 Maybe he could go and help the Celtic defence. Surprised his family are still so far away. I couldn't hack that. Would miss my kids way too much.
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Cookycrew added 11:05 - Sep 16 Berra is a class act. He reads the game very well. His positioning is excellent and has arguably been our most best consistent player of the past 3 years. I believe his 1 dip in form early last season coincided with the arrival of Knudsen. Berra was not only trying to concentrate on doing his own Job but he was also bailing out Knudsen on a very regular basis. - initially Knudsen was slow & completely out of his depth. Knudsen has since learnt a great deal from Berra over the past 12 months & has improved his game significantly.

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TimmyH added 12:57 - Sep 16 Totally agree with what @Dissboy has said re: our defense not being good enough to get us promoted. If you look at the statistics (something I actually posted up last season) our defense is slowly shipping more goals season on season since Mick has been here. No point down marking a post which is factually correct. If we get in the top 6 this season and it's a big if it will be down to being more creative which will probably come from the new recruitments.

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