Dan Burn: ‘Fantastic Championship player’ shows where Newcastle think they may be heading – pundit
Newcastle United signed players in January with one eye on playing in the Championship next season, according to Danny Mills.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Middlesborough and England full-back pointed to Dan Burn as one player who could “do a fantastic job in the Championship”.
Newcastle also added Kieran Trippier, Chris Wood and Bruno Guimarães while Matt Targett signed on loan.
Eddie Howe’s side are currently second from bottom, a point from safety and with a game in hand over Norwich City in 17th.
“They are having a go, that’s all I can say,” Mills told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“They had a couple of signings in against Cambridge and that didn’t work out well.
“You still have to get these players fit, they still have to gel together. Confidence throughout the club and the players will still be low.
“They’ve given themselves a fighting chance to try and dig themselves out of the hole they are in. They are effectively trying to buy their way out of it, simple as that.
“They still sit in the bottom three so it’s not going to be easy to fight their way out of it.
“The game against Everton is going to be absolutely crucial. If they lose that, that’s Everton with two games in hand and seven points clear.
“Suddenly, it will be really difficult to start catching teams.
“They have gone with relatively short-term buys. Guimarães, I’m not sure about, I’ve not seen enough of him to decide whether he’s going to make an impact. He won’t want to play in the Championship.
“Trippier was the first one, a stellar signing to try and attract other players.
“Dan Burn is for the now and if the worst happened, he could do a fantastic job in the Championship.
“There has to be a little bit of that thinking about it.”
In other news, Kieran Maguire has revealed Newcastle United helped trigger a £285million ‘domino’ after confirmed news.