Nigel Reo-Coker revealed he was concerned that Celtic attacker Oliver Burke was a confidence player who needed constantly reassuring of his talents.
The BBC pundit shared that when he worked with the 21-year-old at West Brom he noticed that the winger is a phenomenal talent but that he was too much of a confidence player.
Reo-Coker stated that Burke had a tendency to get a bit emotional and expressed his concern by claiming that was the one problem he found with him.
“I think Ollie Burke could be one of the standout players for them (Scotland) as I was with him at West Brom at the start of the season and he is a phenomenal talent,” said Reo-Coker on BBC Radio 5 Live (Tuesday March 19th, 19:37).
“He has got some unbelievable talent but the problem I found with Ollie is, he’s too much of a confidence player and at this level you kind of need to let that go.
“Very quiet (when asked if he was emotional) kept himself to himself and he does get a bit emotional but he is just a confidence player and then at this level, it’s different, you don’t have that many characters in there.
“So you’re not gonna have that player on the pitch that’s gonna keep motivating him like ‘Come on Ollie’ or ‘You’re gonna skin, skin him’ he has to find that within himself now and that goes back to players taking more responsibility.”
OPINION
Reo-Coker wasn’t at West Brom long this season so Burke must have been visibly emotional for the pundit to come to such a conclusive. Burke clearly has all the skills in his locker to succeed but maybe the pundit is on to something. While it’s hard to know if Burke is emotional behind-the-scenes as you don’t get to see that stuff hardly, he does seem to be a confidence player. When the 21-year-old rocked up at Celtic and got off to a flying start by quickly racking up some goals and assists, once he struggled against Valencia, he hasn’t looked quite the same since. Burke has blistering pace and clearly is capable of being clinical, but you want a player to be consistently good first and foremost. While Reo-Coker was reflecting on Burke potentially featuring for Scotland, you do feel that the winger has to improve when he returns to Celtic after the international break. It’s unclear how Burke can address his issues if it is a confidence problem, but hopefully Neil Lennon or one of the senior players at the club can get through to him.