Dan Burn has had quite the week, receiving his first England call-up following Newcastle's victory over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final. But despite his grand old age of 32, Burn was keen to highlight the fact he is not just in the squad to make up the numbers ahead of England's World Cup qualifier against Albania at Wembley on Friday
Even though Burn has performed admirably for The Magpies throughout the entire season, he has yet to receive that elusive England call-up. He was certain that his time had come, but now that England has a new coach since January, he has done enough to impress Tuchel, no doubt helped by Newcastle's victory over Liverpool over the weekend. "I’ve definitely had worse weeks," he joked to the press. "[Last week] started off when the manager FaceTimed us on Tuesday, said he was considering calling us up and would let us know on Thursday.
"By 6pm Thursday night I hadn’t heard anything, then I got a text saying ‘are you still awake’ at 10pm. He FaceTimed and brought us the good news, I did struggle to sleep.
"First of all, he said I was very unprofessional not being in bed by 10pm, so I apologised for that. He had been ringing everyone who hadn’t made the squad, so again, didn’t think I was making it. He said he needed to end the day on a good note."
"[Tuchel] wanted me to be in the squad to do what he felt my strengths are. I thought I could offer just as much off the pitch as on. I feel I’m a leader off and on the pitch, and just sit into that role," Burn added.
"It is going to be tough coming with all the international players, but that's how I feel I can best help the team.
"He said I’ve been playing well for a long time, so obviously I’m not just coming in to be a cheerleader and help the boys out, I'm here to play.
"I feel I have got the ability to play international level, but you need to be given those opportunities and in the past, I can’t speak about previous managers, but I’ve not been able to get that chance. I just want to make the most of it."
Burn rose up the leagues and earned England recognition from new boss Thomas Tuchel, who selected the Blyth-born defender for the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.
After scoring the opening goal in Newcastle's 2-1 victory over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, the club's toast returns to Wembley immediately. This marks the beginning of a 70-year wait for a major domestic trophy. Burn said with a grin, "definitely had worse weeks." “It started off with the manager (Tuchel) FaceTiming me on Tuesday, saying that they were debating calling me up and he’d let me know by Thursday.
“Then it got to sort of six o’clock Thursday night and I’d not heard anything, so I said to my wife ‘nothing’s going to happen’ then I got a text saying ‘are you still awake?’ at 10. I was like ‘yeah’ straightaway.
There was a little bit of chatter around the World Cup in 2022 when I was playing left-back,” he said. “I thought there might have been a chance there.
“But I felt it was hard, having never played any international football at all worked against us but also you can’t gain international experience without getting called up, so it was a situation that wasn’t ideal.
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Dan Burn has had quite the week, receiving his first England call-up following Newcastle's victory over Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final. But despite his grand old age of 32, Burn was keen to highlight the fact he is not just in the squad to make up the numbers ahead of England's World Cup qualifier against Albania at Wembley on Friday
“But I felt it was hard, having never played any international football at all worked against us but also you can’t gain international experience without getting called up, so it was a situation that wasn’t ideal.
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