Reece Burke
Derby County made a late bid to sign West Ham defender Reece Burke. Unfortunately for the Rams, the youngster has joined Hull City for an undisclosed fee. The 21-year-old is an academy product from West Ham, which is incidentally the club where Derby boss Frank Lampard began his footballing career.
Burke was loaned out to Bolton Wanderers last season and he impressed in the Championship. Hence, Lampard’s interest in him was understandable.
Let us take an in-depth look at the player and conclude as to why Derby should have signed him ahead of Hull City.
The 21-year-old is quite tall and extremely physical with a natural ability to shrug off centre-forwards with ease. His big stature allows him to win aerial duels without much fuss. In fact, he won an average of 3.1 aerial encounters per game in the Championship last season.
Burke is defensively sound and his propensity to make recovery runs truly makes him an asset. Over the course of the last season, the player averaged a solitary tackle and 1.2 interceptions per game. Despite being so young, the centre-back is adept at reading the game to influence situations accordingly.
Like most Championship defenders, Burke exhibits a no-nonsense attitude while clearing balls out of dangerous areas. He had a clearance rate of 6.6 per game last season, which is quite a high number even for a centre-back.
Regardless of what system Lampard deploys, Burke could have played as one of the centre-backs and commanded the back line. Even at the tender age of 21, he can bark instructions to players ahead of him to perform their roles correctly.
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Burke boasts of massive potential to improve and become one of the best centre-backs in the upcoming seasons. Under a legend like Lampard, who hails from the same academy, Burke might have flourished better. Nevertheless, he is a great signing for the Tigers and it goes without saying that their team will be strengthened to a great extent by his presence.
As far as Derby are concerned, they must continue looking for options elsewhere.
