Crawley set to swoop for Blues’ Burns
DEEMED surplus to requirements at Linfield, Aaron Burns is on the verge of a move to fulltime football.
English League Two side Crawley Town are understood to have launched a bid to bring the 25-year-old to Broadfield Stadium, where he would link up with former Blues boss Warren Feeney.
Linfield recently revealed that attacking midfielder Burns would not be offered a new deal at the club he rejoined following a brief sojourn with Portadown in 2013.
That alerted a host of Danske Bank Premiership suitors, with Coleraine, Cliftonville and Ballymena United — where his twin brother Andrew plays — understood to have joined newly-rich Championship side Larne in exploring a move for the Banbridge man.
In a separate development, Glenavon yesterday confirmed last week’s Belfast Telegraph story that Linfield have signed their NI U21 winger Joel Cooper on a pre-contract agreement
Coleraine had been favourites to secure Burns’ signature, but Crawley’s interest appears to have torpedoed any chance of a Showgrounds switch.
Though the player is out of contract at the end of the season and could be snapped up on a pre-contract basis for free, it’s understood the Red Devils — where ex-Northern Ireland international Feeney is boss Harry Kewell’s right-hand man — are willing to pay a fee to bring Burns across the water before the end of the January transfer window.
Burns has made 273 appearances during two spells with Linfield, scoring 91 goals in the process.
At the start of the month, he was made available for transfer as Blues boss David Healy sought to wrap up a loan move for Cork City striker Achille Campion in the aftermath of former Dundalk, Bohemians and St Patrick’s Athletic frontman Kurtis Byrne’s arrival at the club.
“I want to make our supporters aware that I met with Aaron Burns tonight and advised him that he would not be offered a contract at the end of the season,” said Healy on January 4.
“Furthermore, he would be available to offers from other clubs during the remainder of the January transfer window.”
Crawley — who currently sit 14th in Sky Bet League Two — now look poised to provide an interesting twist in that particular tail just as Linfield announced that Glenavon starlet Cooper was on his way to Windsor Park.
As reported in this newspaper last Friday, the Northern Ireland Under-21 international has signed a pre-contract agreement with the Blues from next season.
The Lurgan side had turned down a bid for the player from Linfield but they are destined to lose his services in a few months.
In July 2015, Glenavon saw off stern competition from other clubs to land the winger from Ballyclare Comrades on a two-year contract.
Cooper’s class shone through at Mourneview Park, alerting other clubs such as Bristol City and Sligo Rovers, and he was flown to France to accompany Northern Ireland in training ahead of their opening Euro 2016 match with Poland last summer.
In August last year it emerged the player — a lifelong Glenavon fan who started attending games with his grandfather — was heading to the USA on a scholarship and to study for a degree at the University of New Hampshire, but he returned to Northern Ireland and the Glenavon side at the end of 2017, scoring twice in an abandoned Premiership encounter with Ards before making a late substitute appearance in Saturday’s 3-2 defeat of Linfield.
With his current contract due to expire in the summer, the Blues sought permission to hold talks with the 21-year-old and those negotiations have led to the threeyear deal confirmed by both clubs yesterday.