Dan Burn expresses gratitude to Brighton ahead of return with Newcastle United

The towering centre-back completed a £13million move to his boyhood club from Brighton on deadline day back in January and has quickly established himself as a fan favourite at St James’s Park.

The 30-year-old played 74 times for Brighton in the Premier League between 2019 and 2022.

And after helping Newcastle to an opening day clean sheet and three points against Nottingham Forest, Burn is now preparing to build on the opening day win away to his former club this Saturday (3pm kick-off).

United are yet to beat Brighton at The Amex in the Premier League with the club’s last win on the South Coast a 2-1 comeback victory in the Championship courtesy of a mystifying Mohammed Diame effort and a late winner from Ayoze Perez back in 2017.

While Burn admits he is looking forward to seeing some familiar faces, he remains focused on the task at hand.

"I'm looking forward to it,” he said. "It'll be strange but I am looking forward to it as I did not get the chance to say goodbye to the fans properly.

"A lot of staff I also didn't get to see because it happened so quickly. It will be a tough game and we know we have only won one match so we need to kick on and put in another performance.”

After helping Wigan Athletic to promotion from League One, Burn joined Brighton in the summer of 2018 before returning to the Latics on loan for the 2018-19 campaign.

Since then, Burn has been a regular in the Premier League and has thanked his former club for taking a chance on him.

When asked if he feels a debt of gratitude towards Brighton, Burn reflected: “Hugely. They took a chance to take me to the Premier League at the time.

"All the staff and the manager there, I wouldn't be where I am without them. So it will be nice to go back and see people but I’m there to do a job.”

Like Newcastle, Brighton opened their Premier League campaign with a victory last weekend. A first half Pascal Gross brace was enough to secure a 2-1 win away to Manchester United for Graham Potter’s side.

Burn added: "It's always tough at Brighton. They are very good and showed that last season and by winning at Man United last Sunday.

"We will prepare properly just like we did for Forest and I am sure we will have a game plan.”

On Newcastle’s opening day win, Burn continued: "It was good and exactly what we wanted. We worked hard in pre-season knowing that we wanted to start the game with a lot of intensity.

"I thought we dominated the game and it was one of those days where we had a lot of the ball. But we couldn't score until Fabby [Schar] popped up with a worldie.

"Our whole thing at the moment is 'intensity is our identity' that's what the gaffer has drilled into us. Everything we want to do, feed off the fans and start well - and not let teams press us and stuff."