Why Sheffield United must continue their pursuit of Oliver Burke
According to Examiner Live, West Brom attacker Oliver Burke is the latest name to be linked with Sheffield United.
Burke is also a subject of transfer swap involving Sheffield winger Callum Robinson, who impressed for West Brom while on loan with them in the second half of last season.
The 25-year-old Robinson played a key role, scoring three goals and providing two assists from 16 Championship games, thereby helping West Brom earn promotion back to the Premier League.
West Brom’s Burke, meanwhile, played the whole of last season on loan for La Liga side Alaves, scoring once and assisting twice from 31 league appearances. Despite not being a regular, he still played a crucial role in the side’s survival in the top-flight as they finished 11th last season.
Burke a good addition at Sheffield United
Despite being just 23 years old, Burke has already played in the top-flight of England, Scotland, Germany and Spain. He also has 11 caps for his national side Scotland so far. However, Burke never managed to establish himself at West Brom. Burke has spent the major share of his time at the Hawthorns either on the sidelines or on loan.
His limited chances at West Brom did not affect his performance as he excelled after being sent to Scotland on loan in January 2019 to Celtic. In his short time with the Scottish giants, Burke gave a fair glimpse of his talent, scoring four goals and one assist in just four Premiership games.
This, however, did not impress Baggies boss Slaven Bilic, who once again sent him out on loan the following summer, this time to Spain. With Burke clearly failing to nail down a spot for himself all these years at West Brom, boss Bilic is now willing to let go of him for a fee of £5million.
Also, Bilic is keen re-sign Blades winger Robinson, who impressed while on loan at West Brom last season. Robinson, like Burke, has till date failed to establish himself at Sheffield, unlike his eye-catching displays at West Brom. Having joined the Blades just last summer, Robinson scored just one goal from 16 Premier League matches before being shipped off to the Hawthorns in January.
Thus, a swap deal involving Robinson and Burke seems like the perfect solution for both parties. Moreover, Sheffield lack any other wingers in their side apart from Robinson, meaning Burke’s arrival would be a welcome sign for the Blades next season.
Hence, Sheffield should offload their out-of-favour winger Robinson and exchange him for Burke, as the latter would be raring to prove himself, having spent most of his time on loan at West Brom.
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Verdict
It is clear that Sheffield have a dearth of wingers in their ranks and Burke’s arrival will only add more strength to their squad. Moreover, he is an experienced customer, who has played for a variety of top clubs across different leagues in Europe. Also, Burke is just 23 and still has plenty of football left in him.
