English Media house, Mirror has recently reported that Tottenham have joined the race to sign Nottingham Forest’s highly-rated midfielder Oliver Burke. Teams like West ham United, Arsenal and Liverpool are also reported to be in the chase for the 19-year-old, therefore, it will be interesting to see where this young talent ends up.
The 19-year-old still has two years left on his contract and Forest’s manager has rated the Scottish winger at around £10 million.
Who is Oliver Burke?
Born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, the 19-year-old signed his first ever professional contract with the Championship side in September 2014 and just a few days after, he was handed his debut for the club, which unfortunately ended in a 3-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur. He made his league debut in February 2015 and soon after that, he was sent on a month-long loan to League One club Bradford City.
Burke has represented Scotland in U19s and in March 2016, the 19-year-old received his first call-up to the senior Scotland squad.
The new 2016-17 season has kicked off in style for the young Scottish as he has already scored three goals in just four starts for the team.
Style of Play-
The 19-year-old is a pure Scottish blood and is known for his full-fledged style of football. Naturally a right winger, he can also opt to play on the opposite flank and can also operate the game in the final third behind a centre-forward.
He is known for his speed and dribbling abilities and that has attracted the comparisons with Real Madrid star, Gareth Bale. Besides that, the head coach of Nottingham Forest, Philippe Montanier, even believe that Burke has all the potential to match the levels of Antoine Griezmann, who came through the ranks under Montanier at Real Sociedad before making a big money move to Atletico Madrid.
The player is an uncut diamond and only regular football will help his case and we totally agree with what his manager had to say about him:
“He is very young. He wants to improve and that is important for him. We want him to stay here. He is better off here, playing football,” said Montanier.
“We had the same problem in France, when young players do not stay with their clubs; where they do not stay with good clubs, where they can improve. I think about Griezmann, who moved to a top club at 24 or 25, when he had the tools to play at the top level. At this moment, it is too early for Oliver.”
The 19-year-old stands at 6ft 2in and taking a glance of him, many might suggest that he is either a central defender or a striker and his muscular built is also something that could trick the spectators, but Burke, just like Gareth Bale, loves to operate the wings and thanks to his power, he is capable of ripping the net off with just one shot.
As stated earlier, the player has already scored three goals this term, hence, it is safe to say that the winger might reach a 10 or 15 goals quota this summer, only if he stays with Forest. Just like many youngsters in the industry, he loves to race forward to make those threatening diagonal runs and in recent times, he has proved how important he is for the club.
Spurs, without any doubt, is a great venue and working under Pochettino will only help his case, but the player will only progress if a proper game time is delivered.
