BESART Berisha knows he may have to exercise patience before working his way into manager Steve Cotterill's starting eleven.

The amiable Albanian has arrived at Turf Moor this summer having already built up an impressive reputation on the back of just one game; the friendly against England B in May in which he upstaged Michael Owen on the the pint-sized predator's international comeback following injury.

Berisha wowed the Burnley crowd and rocked Scott Carson with a brilliantly taken goal, while also smashing the woodwork in a 3-1 win for England.

But the 22-year-old is well aware that his future with the Clarets will be built on more than that 90-minute showing. He is prepared for hard work; he is prepared to learn; and he is prepared to fight - traits that have already been instilled in him, outside of football, since childhood.

When he was just eight years old, Besart's father led a 10-day trek from Pristina, in Kosovo, to Berlin, as they sought to escape the atrocities of a civil war instigated by ruthless Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in the hope of building a better life.

"When the war started in 1993, my family crossed the border to Berlin," Berisha explained. "We could not fly, we had to go by car, or walk and it was not easy for me or my family. But this was the one chance we had to have a better life. In Kosovo, we had nothing.

"It took 10 days with car and by walking to get to Germany."

The sound of bombs echoed around them.

"It was not a good time. When we walked and heard something, we would all fall down to the ground," he said.

"When we reached Berlin we got asylum and this was a new life. We knew nothing in Germany and the five of us (Berisha, his parents, brother and sister) lived in one big house, 20 floors high.

"I had to go to school fast to learn everything, but then came the big problems. We lived there for 13 years with one piece of paper with our names on it. Because of this, every day the police could have come, even in the night, and send us back to Kosovo.

"Always we were afraid to go back, so this was not a good life."

But Berish found an escape from his troubles in football.

"I started with football and scored many goals quickly. Later, at 15 or 16, I began to think I could help my family," the wide man said.

"I had been the top goalscorer in junior German football between 17 and 19.

"I had so many pressures, with the worries about the police sending us back, but every game was a release and I managed to get the professional contract with Hamburg.

"I was so happy, I cried. It meant I could stay in Germany forever and even though I could not help my family, they were allowed to stay after one more year.

"We had come to Germany secretly, so all I had to do to stay was to go back to Kosovo and come back to Germany the right route, with the correct papers. I had to do to take my life forward.

"I can remember this time and thinking, thank you God. I am so happy.

"Now being here in Burnley is very important for me," he continued.

"In Germany I did not play so many games, so I hope this will give me more opportunities.

"It is important for me to play, but I have to adapt to the new team and a new style of football.

"I will need time and the manager knows what I need. He is right that I cannot come and walk straight into the team; I have to work hard and play a tactical system, not like I did in Albania or Germany, but I will learn fast."