Burke tips McKay to make it at elite level
OLIVER BURKE believes Rangers winger Barrie McKay has the potential to reach the top of the game if he can continue on his current trajectory with club and country.
The Scotland kids went head-to-head on Sunday as Mark Warburton’s side lost 4-0 to RB Leipzig in a friendly. Burke scored the second goal for the Bundesliga outfit as they earned a comfortable win at the Red Bull Arena.
The performance of McKay was again one of the positives for Warburton to take from a disappointing afternoon and £13m man Burke reckons there is plenty more to come from the Ibrox wide man.
“I thought Rangers dug in very well,” Burke said. “They showed good quality at times. They are a good team. We won the game, but they showed quality. I know Barrie McKay. He played very well and had a good match and many of the players – I don’t know everybody’s names – have good quality.
“I don’t know him all that well, but he’s capable of anything he wants to do. He’s a good quality player and I believe if he keeps working hard and keeps showing what he’s capable of then, of course, anything can happen in football. He’s a great player and he’s shown that.
“Of course [he can play at the top level in England], I don’t see why not. If he continues playing his game for Glasgow Rangers, anything is possible.”
While McKay will look to help Warburton’s side clinch second spot in the Premiership this term, Burke has Bundesliga glory in his sights in the coming months.
The winger moved to Leipzig in the summer from Nottingham Forest and Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side are just three points adrift of leaders Bayern Munich ahead of their return to league action against Eintracht Frankfurt this weekend.
“To be honest, I wasn’t so surprised [by Leipzig’s impact on the Bundesliga] because speaking with the coaches and the manager, you could just see the goals and where they want to be,” Burke said. “Obviously it happened a lot quicker, but I could see it happening. I didn’t know it would happen so quickly because it’s their first season in the Bundesliga, but we’ve adapted well. “We have to keep going. There’s still a long way to go.
“We should get a confidence from the Rangers result.” HE faces are new but the challenge is familiar for Andy Halliday. It is one he has risen to before and now he must repeat the feat at Ibrox. The arrivals of Joey Barton, Niko Kranjcar, Jordan Rossiter, Matt Crooks and Josh Windass in the summer were a threat to Halliday and his place in the Rangers midfield. In the opening weeks of the campaign, he found himself on the fringes but now he is central to Mark Warburton’s side once again.
For many reasons, four of those signings have fallen out of the reckoning. It left Warburton with a problem to solve and the recruitment of Jon Toral and Emerson Hyndman have added much-needed strength and depth to his squad.
Both were handed their debuts in the defeat at RB Leipzig on Sunday and could feature against Motherwell at Ibrox this weekend. There will be a cost to someone in the Gers midfield, but Halliday is determined to prove his worth once again.
“The new boys, Jon and Emerson, can help us in midfield,” he said. “We’ve been unfortunate so far this season to get injuries in that department. We’ve been light in numbers and the gaffer wanted to get boys in. They’re two good additions.