Brighton sell The People’s Left Back Dan Burn to Newcastle for £13m

Centre back. Left back. Left wing back. 6’7 Princess Diana look-a-like. However you viewed Dan Burn, it is sad day for Albion fans as one of the most likeable members of this Brighton squad secures a dream move to boyhood club Newcastle United for a fee of £13 million.

Over the past three-and-a-half years, Burn has established himself as a solid Premier League player with the versatility to cover three positions.

Although never a guaranteed starter behind other defensive options like Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster, Shane Duffy, Joel Veltman, Ben White, Marc Cucurella and Solly March, he always gave 110 percent whenever he was called upon and in whatever position.

Burn was signed by Chris Hughton in the summer of 2018 from Wigan Athletic for £3.5 million despite being sidelined at the time with a broken foot.

He was instantly loaned back to the Latics to recover from the injury and get games under his belt, arriving at the Amex four months later for the second half of the 2018-19 campaign.

Burn never played a minute of top flight football under Hughton, instead being viewed as fourth choice centre back behind Dunk, Duffy and Leon Balogun.

In three FA Cup appearances against West Brom and Frank Lampard’s Derby County, he looked like a decent Championship player but nothing more.

All that changed with the appointment of Graham Potter as Albion manager. Not only did Potter value Burn’s ability as a centre back, but the new boss also embarked on a long-term project to convert Burn into the tallest left wing back in footballing history – as pundits felt the need to point out every single time Brighton were on television.

Such an impression did Burn make in the first month of the Potter Era that he was voted as our WAB August 2019 Player of the Month.

In September 2019, he produced one of the most outrageous pieces of skills ever seen by an Albion player when the Seagulls went to Manchester City.

A ball was dropping out of the sky with Burn chasing it backwards and Sergio Aguero in pursuit. Without a care in the world, Burn plucked the ball out of the air with his trusty left foot, as if his limb was made from the finest silk.

He then turned away from the disbelieving Aguero to clip a ball up the line. Aguero was moved to applaud Burn for that moment of magic, one of the finest Argentinian strikers of all time left gobsmacked by a bloke from Blyth.

Dan Burn love day 3.

Sergio Aguero stops to applaud his skill and gives a high 5 #bhafc pic.twitter.com/f4W4dp97aS

— Brightonian (@PursuitOfTrut14) January 28, 2022

As the 2019-20 season progressed and Potter switched from a back three to a back four, Burn became first choice left back.

Him foraging forward like a giraffe on crack was one of the stranger sights in English football but he proved extremely effective at the role – providing he had a defensive winger in front to help him out.

There were times when quick and direct opposition wingers caused Burn problems, normally when Potter left him ruthlessly exposed.

Brendan Rodgers targeted Burn with James Justin, James Maddison and Jamie Vardy when the Albion went to Leicester City in December 2020. Brighton found themselves 3-0 down inside 44 minutes as a result.

Wolves at home a month later brought a Colin Hawkins-esque performance from Burn. Things were going reasonably well against Adama Traore whilst Burn had March helping him out.

Once Potter inexplicably decided to switch March to the right flank and bring Lenadro Trossard to the left, it went south very quickly.

With no aid defensively from Trossard, Burn scored an own goal, gave away a penalty and got booked in the space of 20 minutes. Potter eventually hauled Burn to prevent him completing the full set with a red card.

Thankfully, performances like Leicester and Wolves were few and far between. Still, it would be re-writing history to suggest that Burn has always been universally popular with Brighton fans.

Many criticised and wrote him off at various points, despite the fact that his limitations were well known. Burn always found a way to silence his critics, most notably when he was outstanding as Brighton went and won 1-0 at Liverpool just four weeks after his Wolves horror show.

One of the biggest criticisms of Burn is that for a player who is 6’7, he is not actually that good in the air. He really should be a bigger threat from set pieces, evidenced by the fact it took him until the penultimate match of the 2020-21 season to score his first Brighton goal.

It was well worth the wait however, securing a 3-2 win over champions Man City and sparking a Pep Guardiola meltdown.

The goal was Burn in a nutshell; he stumbled and fell like a granny on ice, eventually beating Ederson at the second attempt. His celebration? To lie on the floor in shock whilst his teammates piled on top.

Dan Burn moving to Newcastle comes at a time when he is in the best form of his Brighton career. With Dunk, Duffy and Webster ruled out at various points since the start of December, Burn has found himself deployed as a centre back again – where he has been utterly brilliant.

Burn has marked £97 million striker Romelu Lukaku out of games twice as the Albion have claimed two 1-1 draws from the European Champions in the space of a month.

So frustrated was Lukaku by his failure to escape Burn’s pocket that he gave a bombshell interview after the stalemate at Stamford Bridge saying he wanted to go back to Inter Milan.

Brighton will miss Dan Burn, but the deal represents a decent bit of business for both the Albion and Newcastle. £13 million is a good fee for a player with 18 months left on his contract, especially one who is likely to drop down the pecking order at the Amex once injuries clear.

For Burn, he doubles his wages and gets to live the dream of playing for the team he supports. Newcastle meanwhile get a player who is a Toon fan and will give it his all – exactly the sort of character you need in a Premier League relegation battle.

The improvement and progress that Burn has made from solid fourth choice defender to a player capable of covering three positions against some of the best teams in the world has been a joy to watch over the past three-and-a-half years.

It is also a feather in the cap for Potter and testament to his management skills. Whether Eddie Howe can strike the same sort of tune from Burn will be interesting to watch over the coming weeks and months.

There was rarely a dull moment when Burn was in the Albion team. Entertainment followed him around, be it first touches and goals against Manchester City or looking like a cornflake competition winner when Wolves came to the Amex.

Best of all though, he is just a nice bloke. Every Brighton fan will wish Dan Burn well on joining Newcastle, at the same time as hoping he cannot find a barber he likes in the north east and so that lockdown haircut that made him like Princess Diana returns.

To paraphrase Sir Tony Blair: “He was the People’s Left Back and that is how he will stay, how he will remain in our hearts and our memories for ever.”

Goodbye, Brighton’s rose.