The Newcastle United breakout star undeterred by £35m transfer battle

Dan Burn applauds Newcastle United fans at St James' Park.Dan Burn applauds Newcastle United fans at St James' Park.
Dan Burn applauds Newcastle United fans at St James' Park.

Dan Burn is relishing the challenge of rivalling Sven Botman for a starting spot at Newcastle United.

The Blyth-born defender heads into his first pre-season with the Magpies on the back of a superb opening six months on Tyneside.

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Burn joined his boyhood club from Brighton and Hove Albion in January and it was no coincidence United became a tighter unit defensive when the 6ft6 was introduced into Eddie Howe’s starting XI.

Newcastle United defender Dan Burn. Newcastle United defender Dan Burn.
Newcastle United defender Dan Burn.

Having previously shipped goals for fun before the turn of the year, Burn’s presence saw Newcastle concede just 20 goals from 19 games.

In many ways, Burn should be a guaranteed starter for the Premier League opener against Nottingham Forest but Botman’s arrival from Lille complicates matters.

With both players left-footed and vying for that left-sided spot in Howe’s four-man backline, the battle between the pair is well and truly on.

Burn, however, is not fazed by Botman’s arrival.

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“It’s good,” the 30-year-old said when asked by NUFCTV about competition in the squad. “I think you saw in January with the lads that came in, myself included, it’s just competition for places.

“When you know you’re playing week-in, week-out you can sort of relax a little bit but as I said it’s competition and we’ll see who gets the spot.”

Botman has been settling in well with his new teammates, and Burn admits he’s been impressed by the 22-year-old Dutchman.

“He looks really good,” Burn said.

“He’s only young and I can’t believe the size of him for his age, I know I’m skinny now but I was even skinnier back then!

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“He showed his quality but we haven’t seen him play a game yet so it will be good to do that and try and get some more minutes with him.”

Burn and Botman are expected to feature in Friday afternoon’s friendly with 1860 Munich at the Saalfelden Arena.