A first England call-up for Dan Burn means that Darlington FC have two former players in Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad.
Burn signed for Darlington in 2009 after he was scouted by Darlington legend Craig Liddle while playing for Blyth Spartans. He joins former Darlington keeper Jordan Pickford in the national squad.
After signing, Burn was soon promoted to the first team squad due to the club going through financial problems.
The current Newcastle United star made his league debut as he came on as an early sub in a 5-0 loss to Torquay. His first start then came in the reverse fixture against Torquay where they lost 3-1.
He made four appearances for the club in the 2009-10 season as the club were relegated to the Conference League.
He returned to the academy set-up for the first half of the 2010-11 season and made his first start of the season on 3 January, 2011, in a 3-1 win over Barrow. He continued in the squad for the rest of the season making 15 appearances, gaining a lot of attention from Premier League clubs. He came runner-up in the club’s Young Player of the Year award. All eyes were on Burn as Premier League club Fulham signed him for a fee around £350,000.
A Darlington FC spokesperson today told TUXtra: “We are all very delighted by Dan’s call up. It was very clear when he first made his debut for us in 2009, that he had a promising future in the game, which has been proved.
“Since he left us for Fulham, we have watched his career closely and we are all very proud that he has been called up for the England squad.
“His youth team coach at Darlington, Craig Liddle, deserves a huge amount of credit for helping him develop his game.”
