Mark McGhee: Oliver Burke has right mind to succeed under Tony Pulis
‘Tremendous talent’ Oliver Burke proved he has the discipline to succeed under Tony Pulis this summer when he captained Scotland in the Toulon Tournament.
That's according to assistant Scotland coach Mark McGhee, who has backed the 20-year-old to realise his potential at the Baggies.
In June, Burke led the young Scottish team to an impressive third place finish in the competition won by England.
Albion’s £15million winger has five Scotland caps but he’s not been named in Gordon Strachan’s squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Lithuania and Malta.
But McGhee is excited to watch Burke's development at The Hawthorns.
“It’s really disappointing that things didn’t work out for him in Germany, but he’s moved to a fantastic league and an established club,” said McGhee.
“We think he’s a tremendous talent, but he needs to play games. At the moment his potential is huge.
“He has power and size and crossing ability and can score goals. But he has to find his place in a team.
"We need to be patient with him. When he went away with the under-20s in the summer he was outstanding. He was made captain and he played and behaved like a captain.
“Clearly, he has the potential to be that disciplined player as shown with the younger team. If he can do that he’ll be fine.”
Burke is the most expensive Scottish player of all time, having broken his own £13m record last week when Albion completed a £15m purchase of him from RB Leipzig.
The powerful 6ft 2in winger made his debut at The Hawthorns on Sunday when he came off the bench two minutes from time in a 1-1 draw against Stoke.
He didn’t have much time to make an impact, but the youngster has already done things on the pitch McGhee has never seen before.
“We played England at Wembley and trained at Barnet before the game,” revealed McGhee. “We were walking off the training pitch towards the changing rooms at one corner of the pitch.
“Oliver was in front of me and a ball rolled over and he was maybe five yards from the touchline and five yards from the by-line and did one of these ‘Rabonas’ with his left foot — bear in mind he’s right-footed. I couldn’t do it with my right foot! Well, the ball flew to the back post. I’d never seen anything like it.
“It was outstanding — the power and the accuracy and that’s what he has. I’ve never seen anyone quicker in all my years in the game. He now has to apply that to his game.
“He’s still raw even though he’s been in Germany. I hope the German way has rubbed off on him.”
Burke is traditionally a right winger, but Pulis says he can play on either wing and as a striker too. It’s a sentiment echoed by McGhee.
“We all feel that one of Oliver’s potential positions is through the middle,” said McGhee. “With the pace he’s got it may be that — away from home — if they can get the ball in behind for him running after it, nobody will catch him.”
