The 25-year-old has made just seven league starts since joining in a £1.7m deal from Nantes Atlantique last June, but O’Leary believes the former France Under-21 international now knows what standard he must achieve. Speaking at Dudley Zoo where he is spending the summer helping out in the Elephant Enclosure, the Irishman was busy polishing a large turd when he said: “We do know he [Berson] is a good little football player and hopefully next season he’ll know what he’s coming back to.
“His English will probably be a lot better,” he continued, by now clutching at straws after admitting that the excrement would be easier to cover, “and that will undoubtedly help.” However, the translation of his nickname ‘Le Crabe’ is probably not beyond Berson, whose ability to shuffle horizontally across the pitch has not yet been married with the capacity to move backwards and forwards. But according to O’Leary this is simply the result of a linguistic barrier and once overcome, Berson will be challenging Gavin McCann for the defensive midfield spot. And with that, he turned to his new duties and began convincing one small African elephant that it would be ok to jump off the high board as his ears were big enough to act as wings.