BURKE IS NOT A WRITE-OFF
£27m in transfer fees says Leipzig ‘flop’ will be key to Scotland’s future
MARK McGhee has watched Oliver Burke scale heights with a football other Scottish players can’t reach.
‘We played england at Wembley and trained at Barnet before the game,’ recalled Gordon Strachan’s right-hand man yesterday. ‘We were walking off the training pitch towards the changing rooms at one corner of the pitch.
‘Oliver was in front of me and a ball rolled over and he was maybe five yards from the touchline and five yards from the byeline and did one of these “Rabonas” with his left foot — and bear in mind he’s right-footed.
‘I couldn’t do it with my right foot! Well, the ball flew to the back post and I’d never seen anything like it.
‘It was outstanding — the power and the accuracy and that’s what he has. I’ve also never seen anyone quicker in all my years in the game. he now has to apply that to his game.’
This, for Burke, is the challenge. At 20, the Kirkcaldyborn winger has racked up transfer fees worth £27million; he is the most expensive Scottish footballer of all time.
But the solid end product has yet to match the hype and the hullabaloo of last year.
A former hamburg player, himself, McGhee describes Burke’s swift return to england 12 months after joining RB Leipzig as ‘disappointing’.
But after just five starts out of 25 appearances, Burke needs a portfolio of games — a solid run of appearances with West Brom to justify a return to the senior national team after Gordon Strachan took him out of the front line.
‘It’s really disappointing,’ said McGhee of Burke’s move back from Germany.
‘But he’s moved to a fantastic league and an established club.
‘he’s got a great move back but he hasn’t performed the way they would have hoped — and I don’t know what has happened that persuaded Leipzig to let him come back.
‘We think he’s a tremendous talent. But he needs to play games and find a way of playing and find his game.
‘At the moment his strengths, power, size, crossing ability and goalscoring potential is huge — but he has to find his place in a team and he can only do that by playing games.’ At 6ft 2in, with pace, power and physicality, Burke has attributes Scotland’s national team needs and that might explain a natural rush to pitch him into the senior team at the age of 19 against Malta. By the time the Scots faced Slovenia in September, he couldn’t make the bench, but started against Lithuania days later. An unused substitute in the 3-0 defeat to england at Wembley, he was substituted at half-time of a wretched friendly against Canada in March. Taking him out of the firing line after discussions with Performance Director Malky Mackay, Strachan accepted some degree of culpability when he admitted promoting Burke before he was fully established at club level. ‘I think we need to be patient with him and not write him off this year,’ said McGhee. ‘he has to learn to be part of a team. ‘he’s still raw even though he’s been in Germany. I hope the German way has rubbed off on him.’ When Scotland drew 2-2 with england in June, Burke was captaining the Under-20 team in Toulon and is expected to make his Under-21 debut against holland next week. ‘When he went away with the Under-20s in the summer the report back on him was outstanding,’ added McGhee. ‘he was made captain and he played and behaved like a captain. ‘Clearly, he has the potential to be that disciplined player as shown with the younger team. If he can do that he’ll be fine. ‘I don’t know if the language in Germany has been difficult for him, because it’s not an easy thing to go abroad. ‘I’ve been to Germany and it’s not easy when you don’t speak the language. Maybe he has found that difficult.’ McGhee remains unconvinced Burke’s long-term future is on the flank. Versatility can be a curse for a professional footballer, but McGhee insisted: ‘I can’t speak for Tony Pulis (West Brom boss), but we all feel that one of Oliver’s potential positions is through the middle.
‘You know, with the pace he’s got it may be that— away from home — if they can get the ball in behind for him running after it, nobody will catch him.’
Scotland trained at their Renfrewshire base before flying to Lithuania on Thursday. James Morrison has been called in for the injured Tom Cairney, a decision which breathed new life into the row over Celtic midfielder Callum McGregor’s omission.
In a barbed reference to McGregor’s exclusion, Brendan Rodgers had said: ‘I was surprised when Callum wasn’t in it. Then even more surprised when I actually saw the squad.’
Strachan had his say on the matter yesterday, while McGhee insisted: ‘I never saw the comments.
‘I know Brendan and he protects his players, promotes his players and believes in his players. he has got every right to do that.
‘But I think our argument as to why he’s not here is a rational one and a sensible one. Gordon won’t take offence from Brendan saying that and if something happened against Lithuania where we suddenly needed three players, it’s not impossible somebody like Callum McGregor would be brought in.
‘I remember back to last year I went to see Celtic play St Johnstone early on a Sunday. I came back to Gordon and told him I thought Callum McGregor played really well. I thought he had an influence on the outcome of the game, particularly in the second half.
‘The thing about it is, when we do the sums, we still have James Morrison, James McArthur, Barry Bannan, and not only are these guys good players, they are the guys who are in possession and the guys who have been here already through this. They are still playing well, they are still doing well for their clubs and deserve to continue.
‘At the moment we have too many players and too many riches in that area of the park. It’s not that any of us here don’t think he is a good player, or that any of us here don’t think he has a future playing for Scotland. But, at this moment in time, we have the people we need in that area.’