If you were to believe some parts of the Australian football press, Nathan Burns’ performance for AEK Athens on Wednesday night was as epic as the rain that pelted Sydney Football Stadium throughout the evening.
The hype was so strong you’d have been forgiven for thinking the 23-year-old had twice turned four defenders before perfectly setting up a goal with a cross field pass.
Instead Burns was simply involved in the build up play for both AEK goals, though overall he did put in a decent shift.
Unfortunately for the former Adelaide United forward, his manager, Dusan Bajevic, was less impressed.
“Burns played very well, he has very good elements to his game, we know that,” Bajevic revealed after AEK’s 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers.
“But there are some other things that play a role in if he will stay with the team.
“When we return to Athens we will decide what’s going to be happening with him.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement is it?
Burns’ output during his 72 minutes run-around, while good, was no more then a solid performance in a pre-season friendly.
After two seasons at AEK, in which he has won only 5 caps for the Athenians, it’s going to take more then a couple successful passes to convince the 11 time Greek Champions he can meet their standards for this season.
The question is whether he’ll get enough opportunities to do so. It’s a concern the some-time Socceroo is aware of.
“(The friendly against Blackburn) was probably my first start since coming back into the team so every chance I get I’ve got to take,” Burns said.
“Coming back I can try and show the manager how much I’ve improved from the last 12 months.”
I’m torn about Burns.
I’ve always felt he has the potential to play at a competitive level in Europe but he is still to find his feet in Greece. You get the sense that if he doesn’t make the step up this year then Burns could find himself on the journeyman path that tends to lead back to the A-League.
Much like the route Michael Beauchamp, Nick Ward, Adrian Leijer, Rostyn Griffiths and countless others have taken home.
Admittedly these are all players who have and will continue to contribute greatly to the A-League, but it’s a cautionary tale to those young Australian players who are heading out to try their hand in Europe this season.
Guys like Danny Vukovic, Mitch Langerak and Michael Zullo need to be wary.
They may leave with all our support, but I fear in a couple years time we’ll see a number of them back playing in Australia.
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Even though St.Pauli ultimately lost a high-scoring affair, Jackson Irvine was a standout, as well as scoring a late goal.
What if we celebrated all of the achievements big and small, and weeded out those hell-bent on bringing down a game that is doing a hell of a lot right?
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