Advertisement

Aston Villa NextGen hero leading charge to challenge Chelsea on European stage

Graham Burke of Shamrock Rovers
-Credit: (Image: Getty Images)


Aston Villa academy product Graham Burke has been making an impact on the European stage this season as he partakes in Shamrock Rovers' Conference League adventure. Burke, who is now 31, joined Villa in 2010 as a teenager and spent five years at the club.

During those years, Burke was loaned to Shrewsbury Town and Notts County and spent time in the youth teams of Villa alongside the likes of Jack Grealish and Callum Robinson, with who he lifted the NextGen Series in 2013.

Burke played just two appearances for the Villa first-team, under Paul Lambert; both of those run-outs came off the bench against Capital One Cup opponents as Villa reached the semi finals in 2013, including against finalists Bradford City.

READ MORE: 'He's stuck in a time warp' - John Gregory's most outrageous Aston Villa outbursts

READ MORE: 'I was boss when Jack Grealish defected to England - I couldn't care less'

After departing in 2015, Irishman Burke spent time with Notts County on a permanent basis before eventualy returning to Ireland with Shamrock. The form he showed there - netting a staggering 18 goals in 14 league games - prompted Preston North End to bring him back to England in the summer of 2018, but Burke's return to the UK lasted only a single season.

READ: Aston Villa monitor Man United star ahead of big Ruben Amorim decision

READ: Colombia legend disagrees with Emery and Asprilla as Duran 'cannot lose it'

Burke returned to Tallaght in 2019 and has remained there ever since, spending time in the League of Ireland and regularly in Europe, too; to date, Burke has made over 170 appearances and scored almost 60 goals in that time, the most recent of those coming in the Europa Conference League in a 4-1 hammering of Larne at Windsor Park in Belfast.

It was a win which has elevated Rovers, who dropped into the Conference League after they failed to qualify for the Europa League, into the top eight of the table, which would mean a straight qualification to the last 16 of the competition - the competition which is currently led by overwhelming favourites Chelsea.

A couple of years ago Burke spoke of Grealish, who hadn't long completed his move from Villa to Manchester City for £100m, having been in a similar position as the England playmaker, but he has no regrets with how his own career panned out and he remains focused on spearheading Shamrock.

“I knew I didn’t have the ability he had,” Burke told the Independent in 2022. “He was obviously unbelievable for Villa, he captained them at such a young age, went for an English world record fee and is now playing for the best footballing side in the world. But everyone’s careers moves differently. Would I look back and change some things? Maybe. But I love being at this football club. I’m happy with how things are for me.”