Derek McInnes revealed after last night’s 4-2 Premiership victory over Hamilton the club have offered former Celtic and Rangers midfielder Liam Burt the chance to train with Aberdeen.
The 21-year-old youth international could become the latest Scottish youngster to boost their career with a move to Pittodrie – if his trial with Paul Sheerin’s development squad goes well.
A couple of years ago, central midfielder Lewis Ferguson arrived at the Dons and, as his thunderbolt against Accies last night once again reflected, he has just got better and better and is one of the first names on the Aberdeen teamsheet.
The club’s aim to develop young Scottish talent was reemphasised with the signing of Ross McCrorie, who is on loan from Rangers for the season before he pens a permanent three-year deal next summer. He has been similarly impressive for the Dons and has earned a senior Scotland call-up already this season for his showings.
Will Burt be the next young Scot to make a name for himself under McInnes’ Reds regime?
After last night’s win, the manager said: “We handed him an invitation to him to come and train.
“He’ll train with the development squad over the next few days and it’s nothing more than that.
“We have a couple of practice matches. It was just a case of opening an invitation to the boy to have a look at him and him to have a look at us.”
What do we know about Liam Burt already?
Burt, who played for Celtic until he was 12, made two appearances for Rangers in the Championship in 2015/16 under Mark Warburton and another – in a win against Hearts – once they had returned to the top-flight the following season.
Once Warburton left Ibrox in December 2016, Burt’s first-team opportunities dried up and he spent part of the following season on loan at Dumbarton, before joining Alloa for the 2018/19 campaign.
Although he’d made a good number of second-tier appearances in his Sons spell, his time at Alloa only saw the then-teenager make nine Championship appearances.
On his release from Rangers in 2019, Burt made the move back to Celtic, but – despite penning a two-year deal at the start of last season – he left Parkhead in the summer after not playing a single minute.
The midfielder can be seen playing for the Hoops’ reserves about a year ago – and scoring three – in this clip:
It’s clear from this footage of Burt (number 11) in action he’s a capable and pacey attacking midfielder, who isn’t afraid to take players on. He can also finish, which also evidenced in the clip below from 2015:
There is plenty more video of Burt scoring impressive goals and making mazy runs on YouTube.
However, it is understood he has already had trials with English sides Barnsley, of the Championship, and League One Sunderland this summer without earning a deal, so it remains to be seen whether he’ll make the grade and earn a deal at Pittodrie in what are challenging financial times due to Covid-19.
As the sparkling first-half display against Hamilton last night showed, McInnes’ Dons aren’t short on attacking midfield talent this season, with the likes of Marley Watkins, Scott Wright, Ryan Hedges, Connor McLennan, Niall McGinn and Jonny Hayes all capable of creating chances.