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Fullname: Oliver Jasen Burke
aka: Oliver Burke, Burke, Oli Burke, Olly Burke
Born: 7 Apr 1997
Birthplace: Kirkcaldy, Scotland
Signed: 5 Jan 2018 (from WBA on loan)
Left: 31 May 2019
Position: Midfielder, Right-winger
Debut: Celtic 3-0 Airdrie, Scottish Cup, 19 Jan 2019
Squad No.: 25
Internationals: Scotland
International Caps: ? [complete at end of career]
International Goals: ? [complete at end of career]
Biog
| “As soon as I found out about Celtic’s interest I was really buzzing.” Oliver Burke on his loan move to Celtic (2019) |
Celtic signed Oliver Burke on loan who was at this point on paper deemed to be a potential star. Not something that had often been written over the past generation on Scottish footballers by those outwith of Scotland, but he had already commanded two hefty transfer fees by the time he was 21: Leipzig (Germany) had paid £13m for him (helping them to second place in their league) and then West Bromwich Albion (WBA) bought him for £15m.
The Kirkaldy born & Leicestershire raised Scot was seen as having the perfect physical attributes to prosper in the game, and was one for the future. He was even labelled as “The Scottish Gareth Bale” (referring to the excellent Welsh player who had an incredible career at Real Madrid).
Problem was that he was not getting much gametime with WBA, and so was sent on loan to Celtic. He needed to kick-start his stalled career. Physically he looked the perfect part to be a footballer, which was why so many were willing to take expensive gambles on him. However, the comments from certain WBA fans & commentators were not kind: “pace but no brains” was one comment and “a speedboat without a driver ” was another.
Celtic at this point were hitting a concerned faze in season 2018/19. As much as the first team had now won seven domestic trophies in a row and were 3pts clear in the league title race, the first team had just lost to Sevco at Ibrox for the first time ever, and were comprehensively overrun. Freshening up was needed, and the first transfer in the January 2018 window was the surprise loan in of Oliver Burke.
Oliver Burke’s debut for Celtic against Airdrie in Scottish Cup fourth round tie saw him make a little history and become the 900th player to make a competitive appearance for the club in the league, league cup, Scottish Cup or Europe. Celtic easily won 3-0, and he settled in.
He quickly got off the ground running, scoring twice in his second match in a 4-0 victory over St Mirren, with his pace and power seeming to show his potential. Celtic were on an excellent run, and his contribution was seen as an important element that helped to push Celtic to the title as Sevco collapsed.
There were calls early on for buying Burke permanently but at the cost it was never likely to happen. The premature departure of Brendan Rodgers as manager in the season wasn’t likely going to help persuade Burke to transfer over.
However, as the season progressed, the calls for Burke to be purchased seemed to dissipate, as his form declined and there were concerns over his actual value whilst some rumoured over his attitude. Was his potential over-valued? He wasn’t producing the form or goods as once expected to. Some were claiming he was all pace but little product and had a poor first touch. He had a great physique for his age and excellent pace which is what made him so prized, but heading wasn’t his forte and his footwork could be suss.
He wasn’t played in the Scottish Cup final as Celtic completed the incredible domestic Treble-Treble or even the 1-0 league victory over Sevco, although he did play in a 2-0 away league defeat against Sevco. People were noticing and openly questioning this, and in fairness as some of the Celtic performances became concerning, there were questions if Burke’s absence was part of the decline in the on-field performances.
Despite the double v St Mirren, he only scored two more goals in his whole loan spell, and his contribution was seen to be below par after what was a positive start. With other youngsters such as Dembele, Johnstone, Ralston and Tierney around at Celtic, comparisons of value were commonplace. The large price tag was a millstone around Burke’s neck, not that it was his fault.
When Weah was cut early, it was questioned if Burke maybe was also another unsuccessful loan move. It was an uncomfortable question to ask, but in fairness, Burke did make an immediate impact which helped to freshen up the squad and push them further, and often provided good value. It was easy to say in retrospect if either was not needed, but at the start their talent was very much demanded.
Possibly, the best thing to happen to him at the end of this loan spell was scoring the winner for Scotland in a 1-0 victory v Cyprus post-season. It likely gave him a confidence boost which was needed after a frayed end to his time with Celtic.
He returned to his parent club in June 2019, with WBA complaining of his treatment from Neil Lennon as he didn’t play Burke much. Statistics showed though that Burke played more minutes under Lennon than Rodgers, and 19 matches for Celtic was more than he had played in for the two seasons prior to arriving at Celtic.
It’s not Celtic’s responsibility to promote Burke and it was really just deflection tactics from WBA. He has the ability to develop into a fine player but the transfer valuations have been a burden. He had much to work on, and success for him will translate well for the national side too. The market had inflated prices and it wasn’t all helpful.
Ironically he was leaving just as Celtic had hired a new recruitment director from WBA.
Interesting question when reflecting on the second half of 2018/19, whether it was Sevco or Celtic who had brought in the better loan players. Celtic had Weah & Burke, who were young, whilst Sevco had brought in expensively David & Dafoe. At the end of the season, there were arguments both ways but it was Celtic who romped to the domestic treble, and for the part that Weah & Burke had played in this achievement, there was respect and thanks from the Celtic support.
We wished him well but some were worried for his future at this point as WBA were in the second tier in England. Celtic could offer so much more.
He was quickly loaned back out (again) this time to Alaves in the Spanish league top tier which admittedly didn’t work out too well. Even workhorses like Che Adam were ahead of him in the queue for Scotland despite also being unimpressive too, all of which was demonstrating the challenges Burke had to now overcome.
Ex-Celtic player (and former Scotland coach to Oliver Burke) Peter Grant said of Oliver Burke:
“If you could carve a footballer out, as in physicality, then he’s the perfect specimen. He is like a middleweight boxer – lightning quick and very strong. All the attributes are there. But my question is – you might have all these attributes, but if you don’t have a football brain, what good are they? Is there something missing? It’s not because he refuses to listen. Maybe he is too quick for his brain upstairs.” (Source: The Scotsman)
A similar pattern was repeating, first moving to unfancied Sheffield Utd, who loaned him out to Millwall, and then moved to Werder Bremen where after another underwhelming spell he was again loaned back out to Millwall!
An increasingly common view being stated was that too many had simply over-rated him at the onset, and that he was simply just more an athlete than a complete footballer.
[…]
Quotes
“Burkey don’t let me down bud, win that league for us.”
Andy Reid (U18 Coach of Rep of Ireland and former Notts Forest player & colleague, Jan 2019)
“We sent Oli to Celtic in good faith with Brendan Rodgers and Lee Congleton some really good people up there that wanted to take Olly and wanted to play him. They wanted to make him a better player than he currently is.
“Once Brendan left to go to Leicester the treatment he got from the manager that’s in place now is something we don’t expect for one of our players.
“He won’t be going anywhere near Celtic FC. We currently have a new manager that’s excited to start working and looking at Oli.
“They know what’s gone on and Oli certainly knows what’s gone on.
“It’s just something we’re not happy with at all.”
Luke Dowling of WBA (2019)
Official Celtic FC statement (2019)
“If you could carve a footballer out, as in physicality, then he’s the perfect specimen. He is like a middleweight boxer – lightning quick and very strong. All the attributes are there. But my question is – you might have all these attributes, but if you don’t have a football brain, what good are they? Is there something missing? It’s not because he refuses to listen. Maybe he is too quick for his brain upstairs.”
Ex-Celtic player (and former Scotland coach to Oliver Burke) Peter Grant (The Scotsman, 2022)
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2018-19 | 9 (5) | 3 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 14 (5) |
| Goals | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish League
Pictures
KDS
Articles
Oliver Burke has Gareth Bale potential but he must take Celtic chance to save his career – Michael Gannon
Celtic made Burke their first signing of the window and Michael reckons now is the time for the player to halt the career pub crawl and realise his burgeoning potential.
By Michael Gannon
06:00, 6 JAN 2019
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/oliver-burke-gareth-bale-potential-13817302
Celtic threw out their sledge-hammer of a statement on John Beaton on Friday night but it was the lad who checked in yesterday morning who now has the chance to make one of his own.
Forget all the nonsense about conspiracies, incompetence and whether it’s okay or not to boot rivals in the Davina McCalls.
Celtic’s quest to make it eight-in-a-row will be decided on the pitch rather than whinging about refs.
Scottish officials don’t have it in for Celtic . They don’t have it in for Rangers either. Or anyone else.
They don’t have an agenda. But Oliver Burke should have one.
The sometime Scotland star’s arrival at Parkhead yesterday didn’t get much fanfare. To be brutally honest, Hoops fans weren’t exactly hopping in the car and heading to the ground to hail the new arrival.
Not like they would have done if it was Jermain Defoe pitching up with a green-and-white scarf rather than a blue one over the river.
But this is a major opportunity for Burke. It’s not last-chance saloon for the winger but if he’s not careful there’s only a few more stops on the career pub crawl until it is.
This is the kid who was meant to be our Gareth Bale. The chosen one our national side has been waiting for – a genuine world-class talent.
At 16 or so he looked the part. The height, the power, pace, ability. Burke had – and presumably still has – the lot.
But it’s just not happened for him these past few years. It’s easy to write him off as another Scottish almost-but-not-quite player.
Incredibly, he’s started barely 25 games in four seasons. Yet this is a lad who has been Scotland’s most expensive player of all time, not once but twice. Leipzig spotted the raw talent and coughed up £13million. Even though he didn’t crack it in Germany, West Brom paid £15m for his services.
He has barely had a sniff this season but, at 21, it’s no use talking about potential. Burke needs to prove his quality and Celtic is his big chance.
The champions are going through a serious wobble on and off the pitch. The results and performances have been stuttering and they seem to be suffering from performance anxiety when it comes to recruitment. Celtic have been like a geeky kid at a school disco trying to ask the class stunner for a dance these last 18 months.
Brendan Rodgers has come under fire for his hit ratio when it comes to new arrivals but no one can question his ability when it comes to polishing up players. He’ll need to do his DIY SOS job on Burke quickly though as this is no time for gradual rebuilds.
They need reinforcements or are in serious danger of throwing away a league it was assumed they’d win at a canter.
They need to punt Dedryck Boyata now, use the cash to get his replacement and line up another centre-half for the summer. They need at least one more proven striker, a right-back and proper back-up for Kieran Tierney. The fact the shopping list is so long just shows how wrong they got it last summer.
Celtic have cash in the bank but they can’t afford to flop again in the next couple of weeks.
Oliver Burke relishes wearing a ‘real’ Celtic jersey
David Hardie
Published: 06:00 Tuesday 08 January 2019
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/oliver-burke-relishes-wearing-a-real-celtic-jersey-1-4853006
Oliver Burke yesterday recalled how he fell in love, not with Celtic but with their famous hooped shirt, and how he became renowned as the only youngster in the Leicestershire town of Melton Mowbray to wear one.
Having just become Brendan Rodgers’ first January signing, the Kirkcaldy-born 21-year-old loanee joined up with his new team-mates at their Dubai training camp having, as yet, to set foot in Celtic Park for the first time in his life.
He will do so when Celtic return to action, facing League One side Airdrie in the Scottish Cup – a day which Burke claimed will start to see his career get back on track.
Having spent much of his childhood at Nottingham Forest after joining their academy, he had started to make a real name for himself in the first team before his shock move in 2016 to newly-promoted Bundesliga club RB Leipzig for what was then a record fee for a Scottish player of £13 million.
Burke smashed that figure when he moved on after only a year, signing for West Bromwich Albion.
Despite the Midlands side having forked out £15m and a five-year contract, Burke proceeded to fall out of favour to such an extent that he’d featured in only six matches for the Baggies this season.
He said: “I was never given an explanation as to why I wasn’t playing. Tony Pulis signed me and at the start I was out for a bit with injury. As I gradually got back, Tony had gone and a new manager [Darren Moore] came in, so it’s the luck of the draw.
“I haven’t been injured at all. It’s just one of those things which does happen in football. Unfortunately, I haven’t been selected – I don’t know why.”
Faced with options, Burke had no hesitation in snapping up the chance to play football in Scotland – he’d moved south as a toddler – for the first time at club level, a decision he described as “a no-brainer”.
“I was looking to go out on loan and get a club which could really develop me and play as many games as I can,” he said.
“I spoke to the gaffer, Brendan, and instantly he had a massive influence on my coming here. It’s a superb opportunity and being out at the training camp is a real bonus as I will get to know the team and get used to the environment at Celtic, so it was a no-brainer for me.
“As soon as I found out about Celtic’s interest I was really buzzing. I had options but the only choice in my head was Celtic. This is something I had to take on straight away. I had a chat with the manager and I had no hesitation.
“I know I can develop under him. He’s proven he can improve players. I’ll give 110 per cent and I don’t see why this move can’t further my career. It will make it better.
“It’s a pretty exciting time. I’m really happy to be here and excited to kick on now. I had my first training session today and really enjoyed it. I know a lot of the boys already which helps, they are a great bunch of lads, so it’s all good and it’s nice to see them again. I’m just delighted to be here.”
Burke maintains that changing environment yet again will hold no problems for him as all he wants to do is get out on the pitch and play and he’s happy just to have the chance to prove himself all over again.
He said: “I’m at a stage where I really need to kick on and play as many games as I can. At the same time I need to be learning and I feel I’m under the right manager now to learn every day and get the best out of me. I believe Brendan can do that.
“All I want to do is play. I love the game. I want to show everyone what I can do. Unfortunately it hasn’t gone my way for the past few years. Hopefully, I am now on a stage where I can perform. I’ll give 100 per cent for this football club as it’s a privilege to be here.”
“I’ll train hard and I’m hoping that helps with my development. All I have been waiting for is the opportunity to play and be given a chance.”
Burke admits he’s packed more into the past few years than perhaps most players do in their entire careers but, he insisted, he has no regrets at the decisions he’s taken, saying: “I think that sums up football in a way. It’s how it is. I’ve done a lot of moving, a lot of shifting around, and what I want now is to settle, enjoy this loan period and see where it gets me.
“I got a lot of attention. Everything happened so quickly. Sometimes it was hard to adapt and moving clubs can be difficult. You can start to feel comfortable and then you’re on the move again.
“I had to start from scratch, again, at another new club. But I guess I’m used to that now. Still being young is a bonus. I just want to start to enjoy my football again.
While Burke’s time in Germany was limited largely to substitute appearances, he said “I don’t regret the move. It was an amazing feeling. It was a big shock at the time just how well the team did. I was still a part of it, as such, but not as big a part as I would have liked. For the amount of money I went for, everyone expected me to play, they expected the world from me, but at times that’s not how it goes.
“The team were doing so well, playing great football, which was unexpected. However, I can’t say I regret the move. I learned a lot out there. I actually really enjoyed it. Look, football has its highs and lows.
“You have to keep going, working, and pushing yourself because there is always going to be light at the end of the tunnel. You can’t give up.
“I didn’t really think about the price tag. I didn’t know anything about it until it was out in the papers. I didn’t speak to me agent about the fee. We focussed on the best place for me to go at that stage of my career.
“To be honest, I just want to see where this loan at Celtic goes. I’ll try to play in as many games as I can, help the team in any way I can and see where it gets me.
“I haven’t seen a lot of Scottish football. The only time I’ve spent time in Scotland is when I’ve met up with the international squads.”
But if his first-hand knowledge of Scottish football may be a bit scant, Burke is looking forward to the day he pulls on that green and white shirt for real.
Revealing how he had virtually grown up wearing a Celtic shirt, he said: “I am really excited to be a Celtic player. I had the kit when I was young, the full kit as well, and this has always been the club I’ve thought about.
“I wasn’t a supporter. I just loved the kit. It was great. Someone on the Scottish side of the family got me the kit and I never took it off. I would be down the country park playing in a Celtic strip. Everyone was saying: ‘What is that?’ But I loved it. I would be kicking a ball with my friends and they did ask why I was wearing the Celtic kit. I just loved it. It’s brilliant.
“I have never been to Celtic Park. That’s what I’m really excited about. I have heard the fans are amazing so I’m dying to see that. I came to Dubai straight from Birmingham because I wanted to crack on and get to know the team.”
Burke also hopes his move to Glasgow will help cement his place in Alex McLeish’s Scotland squad as they target qualification for a major tournament for the first time in 22 years.
He was also eligible to play for England, but chose to represent the country of his birth. First called into the under-19 squad, he then received his first call-up to the senior squad in March 2016. He subsequently returned to the younger age-group levels and has twice played at the Toulon Tournament as well as captaining the under-21s.
He said: “This gives me a massive opportunity to show what I can do. Playing for Scotland is another massive thing. It was an amazing achievement to have done that already but I want to get back and keep myself in the senior squad.
“All I want is to play games. It’s going be about football, football, football. I went back to the 21s. It was okay and understandable. I wasn’t playing for my club and so I was hardly expecting to be called up for the Scotland first team. It’s still a privilege to play for the 21s and help them.
“We have a great set-up, there are great players coming through and what we did in Toulon and in the qualifiers was great. We have done really well.”