Paul Merson has labelled Dan Burn’s arrival at Newcastle United as a “masterstroke” and believes his signing was more important than Bruno Guimaraes’. The Blyth-born defender returned to his boyhood club nearly two decades after being released by the Magpies as an 11-year-old.
His deadline-day arrival ended the centre-back saga that plagued the January transfer window, with moves for more glamorous names like Sven Botman and Diego Carlos falling through. Newcastle - still one point from safety at the time - stumped up £13million to sign their former academy product and it did not take long for the 30-year-old to repay his transfer fee.
Alongside Fabian Schar, Burn forged a formidable defensive partnership as United, winning 10 of his 16 games in black-and-white colours to steer the club comfortably clear of the relegation zone. Former Arsenal winger Merson has listed the 6ft 7in Geordie as one of the Premier League’s most underrated players and thinks he has been “outstanding” since returning to Tyneside.
“This is a player who has turned it around for Newcastle United since joining the club in January,” he wrote in his SportsKeeda column. “It could be argued his arrival coincided with an upturn in fortunes for Eddie Howe and Co. They paid a fair bit of money to snap up Dan Burn from Brighton, but he's an absolute giant of a defender and has been as solid as a rock.
“He's not very natural and elegant, but he does what it says on the box! Burn is an old-school centre-half and his arrival has turned out to be a masterstroke for Newcastle, as he played pretty much every game in the second half of the season to help them comfortably avoid relegation.
“I liked him when he was at Brighton, but he's been outstanding at Newcastle. Whoever has played next to him at the heart of the defence has looked good, which is a clear indication that he is the leader of their backline. He's already played a big role for Newcastle under the new ownership and has been a better signing than Bruno Guimaraes, for me.”
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