Toon’s Burn relishing the competition
DAN Burn has welcomed the threat of Sven Botman to his Newcastle United future.
Since returning to his boyhood club in January, the Blyth-born defender has become a cult hero at St James’ Park.
An impressive run in the second half of the campaign saw the Magpies concede just 20 goals from 19 games. Burn helped shore up a leaky backline 18 years after being released by Newcastle as an 11-year-old.
Despite his stellar form, United have acted quickly to sign another left-sided centre-back. Sven Botman has been the big-money arrival on Tyneside this summer, ending a transfer saga that predates Burn’s arrival.
Toon chiefs turned to Burn at the final hour after missing out on their top target in January. It appears the 30-year-old is the natural casualty to make way for Botman in the team but Eddie Howe has not ruled out fielding two left-footed centre-backs in his starting line-up.
When asked about the Dutchman’s arrival, Burn insisted he is relishing the challenge for his first-team spot. The 6ft 7in Geordie was speaking at Newcastle’s pre-season training camp in Austria.
“He looks really good,” Burn told NUFC TV. “Obviously, he is only young - I can’t believe the size of him!
“At his age, I was really, really skinny. I know I’m skinny now but I was even skinnier back then. But he has shown his quality. We have not seen him play a game yet so it will be good to do that and get some more minutes with him.
“You saw in January, the lads that came in, myself included... it’s just competition for places. I think when you know that you’re playing week in, week out you can relax a little bit. It’s a competition and we will see who gets the spot.”