John Hartson has been blown away by new Celtic signing Oliver Burke, labelling him as “really impressive” after his display against St Johnstone on Sunday.
Burke was signed on loan from West Brom last month, and although he did not get on the scoresheet at the weekend, Hartson was still drooling over the 21-year-old for the way he came from a deep position to set up two goals for teammate Scott Sinclair.
The BT Sport pundit added that he is glad to see the player that he saw earlier in Burke’s career, saying that he can be hard to play against when he is on form.
“Further up the pitch, Celtic have serious options now, but I can only see them going with the front three that terrorised St Johnstone; James Forrest, Scott Sinclair and in particular, Oliver Burke,” he said in his Evening Times column.
“Burke was brilliant on Sunday and his running from deep to create the two goals for Sinclair was really impressive. I always believe in picking players who are in form, and while myself, Chris Sutton and Ally McCoist all agreed when we spoke about him that he is not a number nine, he can really hurt teams running at them from that deeper position he likes to drop into.
“He is back to being the Oliver Burke that we saw earlier in his career, and when he is in this sort of mood, he takes some stopping.”
OPINION
Hartson is not the first pundit to be in awe of Oliver Burke, and he certainly will not be the last if his latest display is anything to go by. His performance against St Johnstone was seriously impressive, and the way he set up the two goals for Scott Sinclair was just as brilliant. At this rate, many of the fans will not want Burke to leave and you can hardly blame them. He has come in and transformed the team with his energetic runs and imagination and for that, Brendan Rodgers will be extremely grateful. It will be a shame to see him return to the Baggies at the end of the season – many would like to see the Hoops make him stay – but in the form he is in, West Brom will definitely want him back, no matter if they are still in the Championship or if they are in the Premier League. Burke is starting to develop into quite some player, and as Hartson pointed out, he is now looking like the Burke of old.