Burke becomes most expensive Scottish player
OLIVER BURKE has become the most expensive Scottish player in history after his transfer from Nottingham Forest to Bundesliga club Red Bull Leipzig last night for a reported fee of between £13m and £15m.
The 19-year-old Kirkcaldy-born winger is in Gordon Strachan’s Scotland squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifier against Malta and pushed for a starting place with his fourth goal of the season in a 3-1 win over Leeds.
A product of Forest’s academy, Burke made his firstteam debut in September, 2014, before a loan spell with Bradford. He was in Forest’s first team last season and earned a first Scotland cap against Denmark in March.
“Oliver Burke is an outstanding talent, only 19 years old, with an awful lot of potential that has not been completed,” Leipzig sporting director Ralf Rangnick told his club’s official website.”
Burke posted an emotional statement on his Twitter account, thanking the Forest fans and expressing his excitement over the next step in his career.
“The NFFC fans are nothing short of the best. They always have been and always will be!” he wrote. “As for my new club, RB Leipzig, all I can say is that they wanted me and expressed a real hunger for me to join. The technical expertise and facilities at the club are world class, as are the staff.
“I’ve been at Nottingham Forest since I was eight years old. It has been my second home for 11 years. The decision I have made hasn’t been an easy one.”
Meanwhile, Motherwell’s Chris Cadden has been added to the Under-21s, along with West Ham’s Stephen Hendrie, currently on loan at Blackburn Rovers.
Fir Park manager Mark McGhee had expressed his surprise at Cadden’s omission, but following the withdrawal of Callum MacFadzean and Lewis Macleod the pair were drafted in.
“I heard a few rumours at the club but there was nothing official,” Cadden said. “I wasn’t wanting to get my hopes up too much, but at 4pm on Sunday I got the call to say I was in. I was buzzing.
“I told my dad but he had to keep it under his hat until telling my gran and my aunties as well. They are all delighted, so are my mum and brother.”