Oliver Burke

On 28th August 2016, three days before the summer transfer period ended, East German nouveau riche club RasenBallsport Leipzig, backed by a notorious fizzy drink producing company, purchased 19 year old Scottish youngster Oliver Burke from Football Championship club and former European Cup winners Nottingham Forest.

I had never heard of the player, almost forgot the little notice in kicker's transfer ticker as soon as I had skipped over it, before the echo of the transfer fee made me pause and re-read.

15 million Euros.

That's quite a sum for a teenager from the English second division, especially if paid by a smallish Bundesliga club with an emphasis on U23 development.
Intrigued, as I proceeded further to read a handful of headlines on the matter, I couldn't avoid stumbling about the 'New/Scottish Bale' label.

Arriving on Monday at his new club, after having been with the Scottish NT with which he has had 3 appearances so far, Burke admitted to having to look up 'Leipzig' on the internet since he "did not know where it was".

So who is the kid.
Has anyone seen him play, actually, once, or even twice?


This thread is to monitor and comment upon his adventures in self-declared 'Mitteldeutschland'.

The Bale comparison comes from him being quite tall for a winger yet still being explosively quick. Runs past people for fun but in the games I've seen him in his decision making is terrible. Granted I've seen him play in only two matches and a handful of highlights.

Two games and a handful of highlights surely is two games more than anyone else

Did you see him for Scotland or Nottingham Forest?

following him for years now. legit talent imo.

Lucifer wrote:following him for years now. legit talent imo.

Yeah right

Bale comparisions probably come from them huge ears tbh.

Saw him for Forest, caught a bit of him for Scotland last night.

His price tag is big but tbh he seems the sort of player that would rock up at a big PL club for the same price before too long, like Walcott, Chamberlain, Bale and Wilfried Zaha before him. I guess it's a bit more remarkable than them because he's not played that many games.

Cautionary tale though as well in that only one of those players turned any good

Jay29 wrote:Saw him for Forest, caught a bit of him for Scotland last night.

His price tag is big but tbh he seems the sort of player that would rock up at a big PL club for the same price before too long, like Walcott, Chamberlain, Bale and Wilfried Zaha before him. I guess it's a bit more remarkable than them because he's not played that many games.

Cautionary tale though as well in that only one of those players turned any good

According to kicker and 'their informations', when it became known that he was jetting to Leipzig for the medical, a number of PL clubs "scrambled in panic" to raise their offers into "downright indecent dimensions", but he had made up his mind.

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/659131/artikel_coup-mit-burke_wie-rb-die-topklubs-nervoes-machte.html

Lucifer wrote:following him for years now. legit talent imo.

I can confirm

What's an "amoral dimension"?

'very high'. In that case I guess a few millions more.

Changed the tranlation of 'unmoralisch' into 'indecent' as it alludes to the familiar film title.

Nottingham forest fans were seriously pissed when he went. He apparently didnt show respect to Forest or something. They even edited his wiki info out of anger to something cringe Cant find it anywhere now sadly.

Anyway this is him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2F71K4cVno

Great player, been watching Nottingham for a few years now, Fawaz is a *bleep* disgrace selling him behind everyone's back.

Bale comparisons are very fair IMO, too bad he joined a real sh*t club.

First sub appearance, great assist for the 1:0 against BVB

ffs

Just scored

Oliver Burke should have gone to Burnley, says John Hartson

By Barry_Cooper  |  Posted: September 08, 2016

Oliver Burke's move to German outfit RB Leipzig was one that raised eyebrows across the football world.

With talk that clubs like Bayern Munich and Manchester United were interested in the Nottingham Forest winger, many thought his destination would be one of Europe's big names.

It was however, Red Bull, who secured the Scottish international's signature in a deal worth £13m and that move has surprised one ex-Welsh international.

John Hartson, a former Arsenal and Celtic striker, has questioned why the 19-year-old decided to move to Leipzig, when he could have had his pick of various other clubs in the Premier League and across Europe, including Burnley and West Brom.

Hartson said: “He's gone over to Germany and I can't understand that, to be honest with you. I think that stinks of agents more than anything else.

“How much German football do we all see? We see highlights of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, and that's about it.

“The Premier League is the place to be. I thought that was the next step for him.

“He's gone to Leipzig, but what about a Burnley or a Sunderland or a West Brom?

“It's only my opinion, but I think he is good enough for the Premier League.

“I think the Premier League would have tested him and I think that would have probably suited (Scotland boss) Gordon Strachan too. He could have had a better look at him.

“Who watches the German league? You watch the Premier League, then the Spanish league.

“I would much rather see a young Scottish talent like him playing in the Premier League," Hartson told the Scottish Sun.

http://www.nottinghampost.com/oliver-burke-should-have-gone-to-burnley-says-john-hartson/story-29696998-detail/story.html

Embarrassing comments from Hartson. How much German football do we see? Every team from the Budesliga and 2. Bundesliga games, all on BT Maybe RBL are on a similar level to Burnley or Sunderland but we should be praising a British youngster for giving it a go abroad and not handing his future over to David Moyes or Tony Pulis.

Assists on his first sub appearance, scores on his first starting appearance.

Logical player

I bet that he would have sat on the bench most of the time if he had chosen a Premier League club. In the Bundesliga he will get a lot of quality playing time and probably a better technical education than in mid and lower table PL clubs.

Germany has a less congested schedule and a winter break. All this will have positive impact on a rising teenager than the hectic schedule of EPL. Also, putting Leipzig in the same bracket as Sunderland, WBA seems very idiotic.

Burke should have rather joined Burnley or Sunderland IMO.

The move to the Bundesliga leaders might have been too big a step for him, he's merely a luxury sub at the moment.

Burke, who basically has flopped hard at Leipzig (5 starts all season), has moved on to WBA.
Leipzig recover the fee they paid (plus a little something), and Burke gets to try his luck with renowned talent nurturer Pulis.



We will continue to monitor his progress, of course, which is now easier since he is now in the spotlight that is the ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE.
John Hartson was right after all.