Dan Burn in England squad: Defender’s rise from pushing trollies

Aged 11, Burn was released from the Newcastle academy and by 16 he was pushing trollies at a supermarket in his hometown of Blyth once a week.

He played for non-league club Blyth Spartans before joining League Two Darlington on a youth contract in 2009.

The lush green turf of St George’s Park must have felt like a world away as he was washing his own kit and bringing in packed lunches to training.

When he passed his driving test, he would commute with three team-mates to County Durham from Blyth in a Peugeot 206, charging them petrol money because the journey cost him more than he earned from his Saturday job.

Crippling financial issues at Darlington accelerated his promotion to the first team and he impressed sufficiently to secure a move to Premier League side Fulham in 2011, aged 18.

Five years at Craven Cottage brought 61 league appearances but very little stability.

He was sent on loan to Yeovil Town and Birmingham City before a switch to Championship club Wigan Athletic.

He earned a return to the Premier League in 2018 when he signed for Brighton & Hove Albion and, after an initial loan return to Wigan, he finally settled into a rhythm in the top flight at the second attempt.

Burn made his return to Newcastle in January 2022, signing for £13m, and has since made 114 Premier League appearances for Eddie Howe’s side.

“It made me resilient,” he said. “I have not had a straight-line trajectory in my career.

“It has been up and down, from making my Premier League debut at 21 – three years later I was released by Fulham. I don’t care about peoples opinions – I know what I’m good at.

“I feel like I have been doubted a lot over my career. Not many people at Darlington would have said I’d be sat here doing a press conference for England. I feel I deserve to be here.”

Burn was part of Howe’s line-up that lost 2-0 to Manchester United in the 2023 Carabao Cup final.

Before the Magpies’ loss that day, his dad David – with whom he used to have a Newcastle season ticket – wrote a touching letter for his son., external

In the message, Burn’s dad described the pride he felt, explaining how he had gone from getting rejected and ‘pushing trollies at Asda’ to playing with the very best ‘on the world stage’.

On Saturday, David and family were among the thousands who partied in London’s Covent Garden the night before the win over Liverpool.