Six months into life in Germany and Oliver Burke continues to enjoy the eye-opening experience.
Given that the club he plays for, the money-soaked, big business gravy boat that is RB Leipzig, receive the kind of hostile welcome away from home that used to be reserved for invading armies, the experience has also been a bit hair-raising.
Leipzig’s recent trip to Borussia Dortmund featured banner-waving protests from the host supporters while the visiting fans were pelted with stones, cans and flares.
“It doesn’t really affect you when you’re on the pitch but it does affect you if you’re walking towards the dugout, you glance up and make eye contact with a fan who’s going crazy which they were,” said the £15 million Scottish teenager in the latest edition of Match of the Day magazine. “I think it makes you feel a little bit intimidated, but that’s part of football.”
At least the hearty culinary delights of Germany are a tad easier to digest than some of the bile that comes hurtling towards those of a Leipzig persuasion. “They do like a sausage out here,” added the 19-year-old Burke.
The Kirkcaldy-born winger has made 17 appearances for the side sitting second in the Bundesliga but most of them have been from the bench. Patience is certainly the name of the game for the former Nottingham Forest player.
“It’s just a great experience for me to be stepping out onto the pitch against such huge teams,” added Burke. “I always forget my age. I’m always like ‘damn, I need to be playing’, but when I really think about the big steps I’ve taken, coming from a Championship club playing against such huge teams, it’s a great feeling.”
Burke’s whirlwind career saw him leave Forest after just 25 first team appearances but he had done enough in those outings to prick the interest of a host of clubs. The Championship to the top flight of the German scene is a mighty step up at such a tender age but Burke still maintains it was a move he had to make.
“I think at Forest I hit my comfort zone,” he noted. “I was learning there but this is another step up for me. Coming here younger, I feel whatever happens in the future I’ll be ready.”
Whether that future includes a Bundesliga crown with his upwardly mobile team remains to be seen but Burke is quietly confident that Leipzig can end the dominance of Bayern Munich, the Bavarian giants who have won six titles in the last decade and are on course for a fifth successive league conquest.
“I can’t predict the future but it looks like that’s where we’re heading,” he said. “If we keep doing the right things on and off the pitch and stay together as a team, I think it’s definitely heading that way. You can see around you now that everything is a perfectly set up.”
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