Newcastle United defender Dan burn has spoken to the media about former Mag Alexander Isak while on England media duties on Friday.
This is the first time a Newcastle player has talked about the transfer since it was confirmed on deadline day, with the experienced Geordie speaking openly about the situation when facing the press from St. George’s Park.
Burn offers a balanced view on the spectacle, talking about his views as a Newcastle supporter, while also being stuck between a rock and a hard place, considering Isak as “a mate” who created a “tough situation” for his teammates.
“I’m glad it’s done,” Burn said. “I think we just wanted the transfer window to close and have a bit of clarity on it, but listen, I’ve been in football long enough to understand that for a player their careers are short and they have things that they want to achieve.”
“So for me, I’m happy that it’s over. I mean Alex is a mate, so it was a tough situation, so you want him to be around and helping the team, but also understand what he needs to do personally. So listen I’ve got nothing but good wishes for Alex.”
Burn was then asked by a journalist if he had any animosity towards the 25-year-old, to which he replied:
“No, no animosity. Listen, as a Newcastle fan, you know what Newcastle fans are like – very protective of our club, the city and you want players who want to be there, to play for Newcastle. And you don’t want them sort of naively think there’s anywhere to go apart from play at Newcastle, so I understand why our fans are frustrated.”
“But as I said, I’ve been in the game long enough now to understand what goes on and, as I said, I wish Alex all the best – apart from when we play Liverpool, obviously.”
Isak took strike action from the club’s regular first team duties to force a move to Liverpool, missing all of our pre-season games, refusing to travel to our trip to the Far East and sitting our opening three games of the new season, where we dropped points in his absence.
But, he got his way in the end, sealing a £130m switch to Anfield in the final moments of deadline day.
Retarded comment. Burn basically says lfc arent rivals. And we aren’t competing this year.
He should have said “i am a nufc player and a geordie playing for england. He is a LFC player playing for sweden. he is a rival now, so do i wish him success? No. Absolutely not. However he is a friend, so do i wish him any harm? Absolutely Zero. We are sports rivals now. And i want to win.
Steve(Quote)
Think Burn played the media well there, the Liverpool loving media would have loved some animosity to report on, so well done BDB
Darren Bebb(Quote)
Or he might just genuinely feel that way too 🤷🏼♂️.
Let’s not forget Burns journey through his football career either here.
I get why people don’t want Isak let off the hook, but I also wonder what good that does 🤷🏼♂️.
He was here 3 years – he played really well for 2 of them – can’t dispute he played for that shirt (until maybe the last 10 games). But he was a big reason for the success we’ve had in the last 2 seasons – check the stats with him out the team 🤷🏼♂️.
If you feel yourself disputing any of this – ask yourself why are you so bothered then?!.
He acted badly through this summer, that’s also not in dispute – but ultimately we have been able to rebuild an attack off the money we got for him with some very exciting players – and that’s what I choose to focus on.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Time to put the isak saga to the history books. And start concentrating on the players we have and supporting them
Bonnylad(Quote)
I wonder if any of the squad will actually cone out and say what they really think of Isak’s behaviour? There is no doubt his behaviour cost us points and dropped the team in the s**t. Its not the fact he wanted to go to leave, its the way he went about it.
Carol Gilmore(Quote)
None of his former teammates will openly make statements about how much of a shithouse hes been or the damage he’s caused to our opening games, but we fans know how it Must have angered the squad as a whole.
Diplomacy from all concerned, yes, but we know that there MUST be ill-feeling.
You aint hiding nowt Dan….!
Peter Henderson.(Quote)