Pundit hails Dan Burn impact at Newcastle United as ex-Magpie drops transfer warning

Here, we round-up all the latest stories that have emerged today surrounding Newcastle United:

Merson hails Burn impact

Paul Merson has hailed Dan Burn’s impact at Newcastle United, naming him as one of his five most ‘underrated’ players of the season.

Burn featured 16 times for his boyhood club last season, being on the winning side on 10 occasions and for Merson, he believes the defender deserves great credit for helping his side’s transformation in 2022:

“This is a player who has turned it around for Newcastle United since joining the club in January and it could be argued that his arrival coincided with an upturn in fortunes for Eddie Howe and co.” Merson told Sportskeeda.

“They paid a fair bit of money to snap up Dan Burn from Brighton, but he's an absolute giant of a defender and has been as solid as a rock.

“He's not very natural and elegant, but he does what it says on the box! Burn is an old-school center-half and his arrival has turned out to be a masterstroke for Newcastle, as he played pretty much every game in the second half of the season to help them comfortably avoid relegation.

“I liked him when he was at Brighton, but he's been outstanding at Newcastle. Whoever has played next to him at the heart of the defense has looked good, which is a clear indication that he is the leader of their backline.”

Howey’s transfer warning

Steve Howey believes that Newcastle will look to strengthen in ‘all areas’ this summer, although he believes the club must be patient in their pursuit of the right additions this window:

“I think he has to look at pretty much all areas [to strengthen].” Howey told Sky Sports when asked about what Eddie Howe’s priorities will be this summer.

“It is going to be busy and I think the club know that it is going to be difficult to sign players for the fee that you would expect because everyone knows how much money Newcastle have got and so the fee tends to go up a little bit.

“You want players who want to play for the club and not coming there purely for the money.”