What Dan Burn said about NUFC in 2019 – Interesting comments ahead of £13m move from Brighton

Following a £13m breakthrough in our bid to sign Brighton’s Dan Burn, we’ve dug up some old comments from the Blyth-born defender who was on NUFC’s books as a kid.

Prior to Newcastle United’s 0-0 draw with Brighton back in September 2019, the giant defender actually spoke out about his connection to the club and heartache at being released as an 11-year-old hopeful.

He revealed that all of his friends and family are season-ticket holders at St James’ Park and that he turned down the chance to return to Tyneside as an 18-year-old – as he worried his mates in Newcastle would drag him out for drinks most weekends!

With reports on Sunday morning confirming he’s now on his way to the North-East for a medical, it’s interesting to read what he had to say just before Brighton came to town two and a half years ago…

“I am a Newcastle fan and I’m excited it’s at St James’ Park.

“When you are a young lad up there, you dream of playing for Newcastle, so obviously this is the next best thing.

“It will be a bit surreal and it will be a good one for the family and hopefully they will be supporting me not Newcastle. All my friends and family are Newcastle fans and have season tickets.

“They had the academy and the development centre, where the best local lads would go to. I was there for three or four years and then released and probably rightly so because I was pretty **** at the time.

“I was tall for my age back then, but everyone caught up to me and I didn’t really shoot-up again until I was 15 or 16.

“For a good four or five years I was pretty terrible to be honest. It took me a while to grow into my body.

“It hurt massively to be released. It was at Christmas, so it spoiled it for that year. It hurt for a long time and knocked us, but it is that adversity that makes you want to come back and do it again.”

Burn also revealed that he almost rejoined Newcastle prior to his move to Fulham, receiving an offer while he was undergoing his medical at Craven Cottage:

“I could have joined them. When I had my medical at Fulham, I got a call saying that Newcastle had matched it (the offer).

“But because I had been down at Fulham and met the manager (Mark Hughes) and they had pursued us for a long time, I thought,

Newcastle just did it so that they didn’t look bad, because they have lost a local lad.

“Not that my mates were a bad influence on us but I didn’t want to get to the point where I was getting dragged out and going for drinks and getting up to no good!

At Fulham I could just concentrate on the football.”

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

One thought on “What Dan Burn said about NUFC in 2019 – Interesting comments ahead of £13m move from Brighton

  1. I really like his honesty and attitude – exactly what we need at the moment. Having him & Trippier in that back 4 with that mentality can only be a good thing imo.

      (Quote)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *