Dan Burn thought his chance of playing for his beloved Newcastle had gone

Dan Burn and Newcastle United are preparing for their biggest game of the season and the gargantuan defender is counting his blessings after thinking his chance to play for his boyhood club had gone.

Dan Burn thought his shot at playing for Newcastle was gone

Big Dan Burn, as he’s known, has proven himself to be a quality addition to Newcastle’s squad since his £13m switch from Brighton and Hove Albion in January 2022. But, speaking to The Mirror, Burn has admitted he thought he’d never pull on the famous shirt.

Born in Blyth, Burn grew up a Newcastle fan, going to the games with his family while grafting hard to realise his dream of playing professional football. It wasn’t an easy ride for Burn who had to do it the hard way, climbing his way from earning £55 a week on a YTS at Darlington up to the dizzy heights of the Premier League.

Then in January 2022 he got the call that every Newcastle fan has dreamt of and he knew he couldn’t turn it down, getting to play for the club he loves. That would be a big enough dream realised, but he joined at a time when Newcastle were at the start of a remarkable journey and now, just over a year later he’s about to step out at Wembley in a cup final.

It’s something that Burn admits he never thought would happen, saying: “Once the takeover happened, I thought the chances of me playing for Newcastle were done. But football works in strange ways. Amazing teams in the past, Kevin Keegan’s era, Bobby Robson’s era, were full of amazing players who did not quite get there. To have the opportunity to do it… I feel very lucky.”

It wasn’t even a header

Burn has played most of this season out of position, having been signed as a left-sided centre back, he’s found himself out on the left as more of a wing-back, but he’s made it his own even keeping Matt Targett out of the team when he was fit.

The biggest reward for his efforts was scoring a goal at the Gallowgate End in the League Cup quarter-final against Leicester, and the surprise for everyone is that it was a deftly taken right-foot finish and not a header from the towering defender.

Sunday is a huge day for the club as they look to lift their first domestic trophy since 1955, and that’s a fact that won’t be lost on anyone, but most of all Dan Burn and Sean Longstaff, two local lads who have the chance to get their names into the Newcastle history books and do what their heroes weren’t able to.