TOUGH & READY
Burns reckons McKenna is man Forest need to strengthen their soft centre
KENNY BURNS reckons Scott McKenna could go some way to stop Nottingham Forest from being a soft touch.
The City Ground legend is delighted his former club are closing in on a deal for the Scotland international.
Forest have agreed a fee of around £3million with Aberdeen which could go as high as £5m with add-ons.
Do u b l e Eur o p e a n Cup- winner Burns knows McKe n n a’s arrival is a start but still believes they need to do a lot more before the transfer window closes next month.
The former defender said: “We ne ed defenders who know how to defend and to be resolute and strong. McKenna will more than fit that bill, which is good.
“The Forest defence really struggles against big physical strikers and we need somebody in there to give us a bit of steel at the back.
“I believe McKenna is big, strong and quick and sounds just what we need. He is also a Scotland regular and if we are only paying £3m up front then that looks to be a good bit of business.” Burns reckons McKenna has a good pedigree and at 23 is an asset that can add value on and off the pitch.
“He has a l ot of international experience with Scotland and he has played a lot of games for Aberdeen both domestically and in Europe.
“Hopefully he can continue the form he has shown in Scotland and grow in England because he is only 23 and if he keeps progressing then there is no doubt his best years are ahead.”
Burns has warned that McKenna has to head to the Midlands with his eyes open. Forest have lost their opening two games without scoring and sit third bottom of the Championship.
He knows they are miles off a team who’ll be pushing for a Premier League return. They are miles off his Forest team who not only ruled England but Europe under Brian Clough.
Burns said: “The players that Forest currently have aren’t good enough. The squad needs players and players of a good quality.
“Some of the players that have been brought in in recent seasons haven’t been good enough. When I mean good enough I mean to be challenging at the top end of the Championship to try to get into the Premier League.” Former Rangers loanee Joe Worrall and club captain Michael Dawson are among the Forest defenders but Burns hopes the pending arrival of McKenna will see them start to turn the tables and bully the opposition. The Forest old boy said: “We played Cardiff and they had a big lad up front [Kieffer Moore] and we just struggled against him. We don’t really have a major centre-half. “Joe Worrall is here but he hasn’t really come on the way I would have hoped. All the central defenders are all the same. They are tal l but they aren’t really physical and go to compete and bully attackers but from what I’ve seen McKenna can do that.”
Burns is not a fan of current Forest manager Sabri Lamouchi and some of the transfer business that he has done.
He thinks he has to make his team a lot more streetwise or they’ll continue to struggle and add more firepower on top of Lyle Taylor whom he landed this month.
Burns said: “I have concerns over the manager. I am not a fan of his. He bought a £13m midfielder, Tiago Silva, who is injured at the moment and he hardly gets a game.
“He has come in and he has struggled with the football in the English Championship.
“He didn’t play a lot of games and when he did get on it was more of a cameo role. The Championship is a tough league to play in and even harder to get out of, in terms of promotion.
“McKenna, as I said, will hopefully improve us defensively and hopefully the club can now and add some more quality at the other end because we really need goalscorers or it could be a long, hard season.”
McKenna is big, strong and quick and sounds just what we need KENNY BURNS ON THE SCOTLAND DEFENDER
“It was only a couple of years ago that Aston Villa bid £7m for McKenna so that shows the sort of quality he has,” his fellow Scot claimed.