Nottingham Forest: £13m star now worth 85% less after City Ground exit
He moved abroad as a teenager but has failed to live up to potentia
Nottingham Forest made their return to the Premier League for the first time since 1999 last season.
Under the guidance of Steve Cooper, Forest have managed to reestablish themselves in the top flight.
After recording a 16th-place finish to secure survival, The Garibaldi’s will be looking to build upon that in order to ensure they get a third successive campaign in the world’s most lucrative division.
The change in their fortunes is a far cry from where the club was less than a decade ago.
Rewinding back to 2016, the club was stuck in the Championship and was in the bottom half of the table. It would be six years before they would find the man who would lead them back to the promised land.
The lofty heights of the Premier League appeared to be a long way off. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom at the City Ground.
One young player had risen through the ranks and caught the attention of everyone. He possessed so much skill that his international manager said, “he is a similar player to Gareth Bale.”
The man in question is Oliver Burke.
When did Oliver Burke make his Nottingham Forest Debut?
The Scottish attacker made his debut for the East Midlands club in 2014. At just 17 years of age, he was at the time the sixth-youngest player to ever feature in the first team. He has since dropped to seventh on that list.
His appearances were sporadic in his first season. In the 2015/16 season, he began earning more regular playing time. He finished the season with 21 games in all competitions for Forest, scoring twice.
He also made his international debut since then, coming off the bench for Scotland in a 1-0 victory over Denmark.
The player seemed to have the world at his feet. Interested parties included Manchester United and Bayern Munich. It appeared that bigger things were on the horizon.
He began the 2016/17 campaign still at Forest, and he started with a bang. Four goals in five league games indicated that he was ready to take the next step.
His destination would be Germany. However, it wouldn’t be for the Bavarians.
Who signed Oliver Burke from Nottingham Forest?
Burke left the side whose academy he had risen through the ranks of to join RB Leipzig for £13m.
The deal saw him become the most expensive Scottish player in history and a lot was expected from the starlet.
His reason for joining the German side was that he believed he would receive more game time than at some of the other giants who were linked with his signature.
Former Man United boss Ralf Rangnick, who was the sporting director for Leipzig at the time of the deal, was pleased with the signing. “He is an outstanding talent with an awful lot of potential,” he remarked. “He fits with the high pace and style of play very well and will make his next sporting development step with us.”
Now playing in the top tier in Germany, more eyes were on Burke than ever. He was featured by UEFA as part of the ‘weekly wonderkid’ series.
The piece listed a number of bold claims, one coming from Scottish scout Mick Elliot who claimed that Burke “will be as big as Kenny Dalglish. And Kenny was my hero, so it shows you what I think of Ollie.”
For the man dubbed as the next King Kenny, his journey in Germany was over as quickly as it started.
After 26 appearances and one goal for Leipzig, it was decided that Burke was perhaps not at the level they believed him to be.
One year on, the Scot was shipped back to England. The saving grace was that he wasn’t returning to the Championship. He was headed to the Premier League.
Which Premier League team did Burke join?
Burke joined West Bromwich Albion in 2017. Despite not making a great impression in Germany, belief in his potential was such that Leipzig still managed to make a profit on the player, selling him for £15m.
Despite having the opportunity to feature in the Champions League, Burke opted for the move with aspirations of first-team football.
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