Former boss Philippe Montanier has suggested it was a “mistake” for Oliver Burke to leave Nottingham Forest during his time in charge.
Nigel Doughty Academy product Burke attracted much interest after breaking into the Reds first-team in 2014.
He went on to make just 31 appearances in the Garibaldi, scoring 18 goals, before being sold by then-owner Fawaz Al Hasawi to RB Leipzig for £13m in the summer of 2016.
Montanier had barely been at the helm a couple of months when the deal went through, and has been reflecting on the winger’s career since then.
Burke struggled to make an impact in Germany and made the switch to West Bromwich Albion 12 months later. Regular game time still proved hard to come by, with loan spells at Celtic and Alaves before signing for Sheffield United in September.
Speaking about transfer business, Montainer, now manager at Standard Liège, told Het Laatste Nieuws, via Sport Witness: “I think they are often mistaken, yes. Only the financial proposals of the big clubs are sometimes so interesting… Also for the parents.
“At Nottingham Forest, I worked with Oliver Burke. A great talent. Suddenly all the planet wanted him. Oliver said to me, ‘I’ll stay’.
“Until one day I got a phone call: ‘Coach, sorry, but I’m on a plane (to Leipzig). With this contract, I can secure the future of my family. ‘
“But look at the evolution of his career. I always take the example of Zinedine Zidane.
“He made his Cannes debut, went to Bordeaux and when he was an adult player he moved to Juventus. Real Madrid followed later.
“He did it step by step and patiently. Do you know what to do? Map all young Belgian football players who left abroad at a young age.
“For the three or four who have passed, there are 50 that you will not hear from anymore.”
Burke has previously said he felt Forest and Al Hasawi showed little intent of wanting to keep him at the time.
“To be honest I didn’t feel they really wanted to keep me,’ he said, shortly after joining Leipzig.
“I feel they were very happy to take the money and let me go.
“A lot of people are saying my agent forced the deal for the money. It was never forced. I didn’t have talks with Fawaz, but we knew they were accepting offers, anything over a certain amount.
“I thought they could have at least pulled me aside and said, ‘look, this is going on’. Had a chat.”
