Oliver Burke was a forgotten man when he was at West Bromwich Albion as he had managed just 46 minutes of football in the first half of the season. Reports even came out that the English club had to put up a special training regime for Burke to keep him up to pace and at the time we felt that Celtic were making a mistake by signing him.
However, the winger started off brilliantly as Rodgers decided to use him up front as the likes of Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths were unavailable. Burke has gone slightly off the boil of late, but he remains an important player for the Hoops. He has even kept Celtic’s record signing Edouard out of the starting eleven on occasions.
BBC pundit Don Hutchinson believes that the Scotsman should look to stay at Celtic Park for as long as possible. He was quoted as saying on Radio 5 Live (Tuesday, March 19th, 19:45), ”There’s no need for Oli Burke to move away from Celtic because at the present time, the form he has been in, not amazing form but y’know, better form from where he was a year ago. He probably wouldn’t get in most Premier League sides at the moment, not starting anyway.”
“So this is no disrespect to Celtic but it’s a great place for Ollie Burke to try and improve, play well, and have an atmosphere and a crowd that are going to drive him on and a manager in Neil Lennon, or whoever it may be in the summer, that will drive him on to the next level.”
Hutchinson is spot on with his assessment and Celtic should look to sign him on a permanent deal. The Baggies are currently without a permanent manager, and it remains to be seen whether the new manager would keep Burke in his plans for the future.
The player himself should look to push for a move as the winger found it hard to get game time at the Hawthorns. West Brom are currently fighting to get to the Premier League, and if they go through, then we don’t expect Burke to find it easy to get much game time.
However, the fact that West Brom paid £15m for him in the summer of 2017 means that the English club would want to give him every opportunity before selling him. But it seems clear that Burke and Celtic are a better match and getting to play regularly is going to be crucial for this talented player who was touted to be the next big thing to come from Scotland.
