Burnley new boy could make debut against Leeds United, Scott Parker hints

Burnley boss Scott Parker has suggested their new signing John Egan could make his debut away at Leeds United this weekend. The Clarets have swooped to land the centre-back on a free transfer following his exit from Sheffield United at the end of last season.

The centre-back has been training with the Lancashire side for a few weeks and they decided to hand him a deal. They were relegated from the Premier League in the last campaign along with Luton Town and Sheffield United and are now eyeing an immediate return to the top flight.

Speaking ahead of their trip to Leeds on Saturday, their head coach Parker has shared this update on Egan’s fitness: “The character of him as a person. He has a huge wealth of experience and within quite a young backline he brings plenty of knowledge to the group.

"He has been promoted twice from this league, he knows what it takes and what is needed and can be there to help the younger lads around him such as CJ (Egan-Riley), Maxime (Esteve), Bashir (Humphreys), Lucas (Pires) and Shurandy (Sambo). He's in a good place fitness wise, trained with us for a few weeks now and there's a lot of aspects that will help us this season from John."

Egan, who is 31-years-old, is a Republic of Ireland international with 36 caps under his belt. He has made 406 appearances in all competitions, chipping in with 27 goals from the back.

The Cork-born man moved over to England as a youngster and joined Sunderland. He was loaned out by the Black Cats to Crystal Palace, Sheffield United, Bradford City and Southend United to get some experience under his belt before securing a permanent exit to Gillingham.

Egan ended up back at Bramall Lane in 2018 when the Blades came calling for him again and he was a good servant to the South Yorkshire outfit. He played 222 games and found the net on eight occasions before leaving at the end of June.

Parker now need to decide whether to hand him his first appearance for Burnley against Leeds. The Whites won 2-0 against Hull City on their own patch last time out and will be hoping for more of the same against the Clarets.

After securing his transfer to Turf Moor, Egan said: “First and foremost, I’m an ambitious person, an ambitious player and I feel like I’m at an ambitious club. The manager, staff and the players all want to be successful. I want to come in and add to that. I want to bring my experience and my ability into the group to help drive the group on.

“I’ve been here a few weeks now; I’ve got to know the lads and really enjoyed working with them and the manager. I’ve had some really good conversations with him. It’s been an incredible environment to come into.  I’m delighted to be a Burnley player now and I’m looking forward to the future.”