Dan Burn has said he remains friends with Alexander Isak and wishes him well after the striker's British-record £125m move from Newcastle to Liverpool. The defender, who understands the frustration of supporters on Tyneside, insists there is no animosity towards the Sweden international despite the acrimonious end to his time at St James' Park.
“I’m glad it’s done,” Burn said. “We wanted the transfer window to close just to have clarity. I’ve been in football long enough to understand that for a player the career is short and they have things they want to achieve. Alex is a mate and it’s a tough situation as you want him around to help the team. But I also understand for him what he needs to do personally. I’ve got nothing but good wishes for Alex.”
Burn revealed that Isak contacted the squad’s group chat to announce his departure, and received positive messages from his former teammates. “He put a message in the chat just saying that he was leaving, and thanks for the memories, all that sort of stuff, and the lads replied,” the Newcastle defender said.
The 30-year-old believes the club have invested wisely in replacements Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa, and that the squad is better equipped for a Champions League campaign this time around. “If you look at the whole of our transfer window, we’ve bought well, got players in the positions that we wanted to get them in,” he said. “I think that’s the thing that we probably need to learn from the last time we were in the Champions League. We probably didn’t have that depth that we needed and suffered for it.”
Burn, who hopes to start for England against Andorra at Villa Park on Saturday, said the saga has brought the squad closer together. “It brought us closer really,” he added. “I think it can be frustrating at times. Everything was so positive last season, so that took a little bit of a shine off. But I’m not silly, I’ve been around football a long time now, and people have short careers, and they want to max out absolutely everything they can, so there’s no hard feelings from me.”
