Oliver Burke was a name that was on the lips of Celtic fans a few years ago. The lanky Scotland international had saw a fair wack of cash spent on him prior to his joining the club in the January of 2019 alongside the likes of Timothy Wean and Jeremy Toljan. Burke was brought in by Brendan Rodgers to try and beef up his attack as theRangers appeared to be getting closer.
Burke had been the subject of several transfers before he arrived on our doorstep; with RB Leipzig spending £15 million or so to take him from the English Championship to the Bundesliga several years ago. Burke failed to live up to the hype and was passed around from pillar to post, as everyone who tried failed to get a tune out of the bustling forward.
Then Brendan Rodgers took a punt on him and he did show in glimpses the kind of input he could have when in a system that suited his style of play and physical attributes. Chris Sutton once famously remarked that ‘Burke’s legs are quicker than his brain’, when the debate arised over whether or not to sign the ex-West Brom man permanently.
It was not to be though, as he showed nowhere near enough during his short and sweet stay in Glasgow’s East End and went down in history alongside Diomansy Kamara, Henri Camara, Edson Braafheid and many others who had brief encounters with Celtic FC down the years.
Now it appears he has found a home with Daily Record reporting that Burke will now join German club Werder Bremen, which is quite a decent offer considering he has been a footballing nomad these past few years. His physicality and acceleration may even be a stylistic match for the Bundesliga 2, where the level is not quite as demanding as the German first division.
Perhaps Oli may go on to show us all that we were wrong and had judged him too soon or harshly. But then again, maybe Chris Sutton was spot on the money…
A little bit of news regarding a former player at Celtic.
Oliver Burke has today secured a move to Bundesliga side Werder Bremen 🇩🇪 pic.twitter.com/wga9v0CsMQ
— Everything Celtic (@aboutceltic) June 29, 2022
Paul Gillespie
Unfortunately Oli will be forever remembered as one of those very confusing signings. Oli was and is an imposter as a professional football player.
He has one asset. Fast. However he has zero ball control skills.
His arrival typified the mindset of rodgers when he was sneakily orchestrating his flight out of Paradise.
Clearly he hadn’t seen Oli perform. If he had, even he wouldn’t have brought him in!
Unless of course he was deliberately trying to get fired, which in hindsight may well have been the case.