Burn's tall order from Asda shifts to Three Lions call-up

Dan Burn can complete a journey from non-league to senior international with his first cap this week, writes Richard Jolly

- Richard Jolly

Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham spent Euro 2024 in Germany, in Blankenhain and Berlin, Dusseldorf and Dortmund, Frankfurt and Cologne. Dan Burn spent it in an Airbnb. It was another indication of the parallel lives of England’s resident superstars and the call-up with the most improbable back story in years, perhaps since Rickie Lambert or Chris Powell. Thomas Tuchel’s maiden selection was expected to contain men from Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. It also included a player whose CV features Darlington, Yeovil and Asda.

And so, when England were in just the third final of their history, Burn was in rented accommodation. “We were renovating a house up in Newcastle so I was in an Airbnb at the time,” he said. Come the 2026 World Cup final, he may be found in a deluxe hotel in New York or New Jersey, preparing for the biggest game on the planet. It still sounds unlikely but then Burn, the oversized everyman, is a reminder the implausible can come true.

England, famously, have not won anything since 1966. Tuchel’s opening address to his new players showed his ambition. “He said that the goal is to put another star on the jersey,” revealed Burn. It may be just as well that the leftfield choice in Tuchel’s maiden squad knows something about ending trophy droughts that date back to the 1960s.