Phil SumblerYesterday’s capture from Manchester City, Finley Burns, has a certain degree of pressure behind him after he made headlines as a 13 year old when the Premier League champions paid £175,000 to sign him from Southend.
A record fee for a player of that age it moved Burns immediately from developing at Southend to one of the most ferociously competitive academies in Europe. It was pressure that Burns thrived on and City’s faith in him appears to have been rewarded with the teenager now worth potentially millions and, as of two weeks back, safely secured by an extended contract that takes him through to 2027.
Still only 18 Burns will make the move to Swansea to try and continue a development that saw him make his first team debut this season where, maybe ironically, he was up against former Swansea striker Adebayo Akinfenwa who was playing for Wycombe.
“I’m used to people my own age and a similar build so coming up against someone like Akinfenwa who is double the size of me and bullying me a bit … it was a great experience and definitely something I’ve learnt from,” Burns told MEN Sport after the game, which City won 6-1.
“I just need to take what I learned from that game into future games. There were a few times at the start where I thought I was going to try to win the ball but sometimes you’ve just got to let him bring it down and accept I wasn’t going to win the physicality.”
It has been quite a few years for Burns since he made that move North from Southend and he admits that it is a steep learning curve he has been through “City is miles away [from Southend] in terms of football, not just the distance. It was a massive step when I was 13 going from one end of the spectrum to the other. They showed me around and showed me where they think I’m going to be in the future and laid out my pathway,” Burns added.
“If someone shows you what they think you can achieve and where they reckon you can get to, you’ve got to put your trust in them and believe that they can see it through with you. My parents thankfully moved up with me because that’s a massive help for me. I need them off the pitch to help me stay focused.”
At 6ft 3in he is the tallest centre back at the club but by his own admission when he was growing up he admits he was “really tall but not very big so I was a bit out of proportion” but plenty of gym work has changed that and resulted in that debut earlier this season.
Burns development was rewarded two weeks back – along with Shea Charles – with an extended contract that will take them through to 2027 at the Ethiad a clear sign of how much City rate the youngsters.
Burns was a key part of City’s Elite Development Squad which lifted the Premier League 2 title last term and has been in impressive form for theUnder-23s once again this season and has made 13 appearances to date as well as making five appearances in their UEFA Youth League campaign.
It should be seen as a huge compliment for the Swans that City have allowed one of their highly rated youngsters continue his development in SA1 and we await his arrival with a pretty decent level of anticipation.
