Newcastle United defender’s selfless act as £28m Chelsea signing confirmed

The signings of Yankuba Minteh, Sandro Tonali, Harvey Barnes, Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall have shown Newcastle’s clear and renewed focus on bringing in younger talent to help bolster the quality and depth of the first-team. It’s a shift in transfer policy that has allowed the club to lower the average age of the squad that is among the oldest in the Premier League.

Whilst their summer arrivals will all have differing contributions to make this season, it’s clear that they will all strengthen the squad and have very bright futures at the club - once they have settled into life on Tyneside. One man who knows all about life in Newcastle is Dan Burn.

Burn is part of the leadership group at the club alongside club captain Jamaal Lascelles, Kieran Trippier, Callum Wilson and Matt Ritchie and revealed to the Gazette how he wants to help Newcastle’s new signings adapt to life at the club - even if that means seeing his long-term future in the first-team threatened. Burn said: “My role is to just help them get settled in.

“Trying to make them as comfortable as possible and trying to pass on information when we can if they want to learn from us. I’m an open book if they want to come speak with me, I’ll help them as much as possible.

“I do think that we’ve taken a little different direction this summer with bringing in younger lads who will eventually push us older lads out - hopefully no time soon - but they’ll eventually push us older lads out.”