Only way for Olly to get stronger is to play games
Oliver Burke has broken the Scottish transfer record twice. Moved for £28million in total by age 20. Incredible.
More incredible, though, is that he has done it and started only five games of top flight football. Count ‘em. Five.
So he could have done the easy thing this week, sat where he was at RB Leipzig, kept training in a class environment with great players, earning great money.
Telling people: ‘Yeah, I play for the second-best team in the Bundesliga.”
But the truth is he doesn’t. You’re only a player when you actually play.
In the games Burke started for the Germans, he never finished any of them.
In his 20 appearances as a sub, he played a total of 262 minutes – not even three matches’ worth.
So anyone disappointed that he has come back to British football, and that we no longer can lay claim to a Scot in the Bundesliga, has to understand that what Burke needs right now is to play football. A lot of it.
And in that respect, he has done exactly the right thing signing for West Brom.
In no way is it an admission of defeat to come back to England after a year away.
I’ve been there, I’ve gone abroad and played, and it’s not easy at a young age. The culture, new surroundings, new people.
Being so far away from home was hard after my move to San Diego Spirit.
Halfway through my first season in the States I was struggling to settle, mainly because of things off the park. I was still enjoying the football.
The second season was better and if it hadn’t been for their pro league crashing and burning, I’d probably have stayed for longer.
So it’s good to spread your wings and get broader experience. It would be better if more of Scotland’s men gave themselves the chance to do it, for them and for the national team.
A lot of our girls have played abroad and there’s no question it has been good for them. Lisa Evans played at the top in Germany, Fiona Brown is in Sweden, Lana Clelland plays in Italy, Kim Little and Rachel Corsie in the States.
They had to go because our domestic game couldn’t sustain them but they were all established players before they left. It was different.
When you’re not established as an international or a first choice for your club, you have to play to develop.
Working hard all week and then getting 10 minutes isn’t going to turn Burke into the player he can be, nor should it satisfy him.
There’s no substitute for 90 minutes in a starting XI and that has to be his target now if he wants to fulfil his potential.
By all accounts he was terrific for Scotland in the Toulon tournament in the summer, played like a real leader as we got to the semis, and that’s the guy we want to see establish himself in the big squad.
When he does, when he has 50, 100 games at his back, when he has harnessed that big athletic frame of his and learned the ropes, who’s to say he won’t end up back in the Bundesliga as a star?
At the moment all the fees have created for him is expectation. It’s up to him to create his own worth.
In no way is it an admission of guilt to come back to England after a year