OLIVER BURKE believes Rangers winger Barrie McKay has the potential to reach the top of the game if he can continue on his current trajectory with club and country.
The Scotland kids went head-to-head on Sunday as Mark Warburton’s side lost 4-0 to RB Leipzig in a friendly. Burke scored the second goal for the Bundesliga outfit as they earned a comfortable win at the Red Bull Arena.
The performance of McKay was again one of the positives for Warburton to take from a disappointing afternoon and £13million man Burke reckons there is plenty more to come from the Gers star.
“I thought Rangers dug in very well,” Burke said. “They showed good quality at times. They are a good team. We won the game, but they showed quality. I know Barrie McKay. He played very well and had a good match and many of the players - I don’t know everybody’s names - have good quality.
“I don’t know him all that well, but he’s capable of anything he wants to do. He’s a good quality player and I believe if he keeps working hard and keeps showing what he’s capable of then, of course, anything can happen in football. He’s a great player and he’s shown that.
“Of course [he can play at the top level in England], I don’t see why not. If he continues playing his game for Glasgow Rangers, anything is possible.”
While McKay will look to help Warburton’s side clinch second spot in the Premiership this term, Burke has Bundesliga glory in his sights in the coming months.
The winger moved to Leipzig in the summer from Nottingham Forest and Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side are just three points adrift of leaders Bayern Munich ahead of their return to league action against Eintracht Frankfurt this weekend.
“To be honest, I wasn’t so surprised [by Leipzig’s impact on the Bundesliga] because speaking with the coaches and the manager, you could just see the goals and where they want to be,” Burke said. “Obviously it happened a lot quicker, but I could see it happening. I didn’t know it would happen so quickly because it’s their first season in the Bundesliga, but we’ve adapted really well. We have to keep going. There’s still a long way to go.
“We can’t dwell on our recent results. We should get a bit of confidence from the result against Rangers and go into our next game with bundles of confidence.
“Anything is possible. I can’t say [if we will win the Bundesliga]. Football’s a crazy game. We’ll see. It’s for you to find out.”
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