Oliver Burke: ‘It was an honour to wear the Scotland badge. I would love that again’

“You can almost call me the journeyman a little bit,” said Oliver Burke, but it has been a journey with a difference. There have been higher-profile British exports to Germany in recent years, with Harry Kane, Jude and Jobe Bellingham and Jadon Sancho among them, but Burke is a rarity nonetheless, a man with a Midlands accent now at his third Bundesliga club.

His is a crowded CV. He has played in four countries, including Spain and Scotland. He has represented six English clubs, five of them in the Championship. Yet his reputation may be highest in Germany. He has played top-flight football for RB Leipzig as a teenager and Werder Bremen in his mid-twenties. Now, at 28, he is bringing his pace to Union Berlin. In September, a treble against Eintracht Frankfurt made him the first Scot ever to score a hat-trick in the Bundesliga.

None of which felt the logical consequence of being born in Kirkcaldy or coming through Nottingham Forest’s youth system, even for someone who used to watch Bundesliga highlights as a boy. “I have probably played my best football here in Germany,” said the winger. “I never thought as a child I would be out in Germany and I never imagined that.”

But his style of play may suit the German game. The energy in the stands appeals to him, too. “Counter-attacking football really uses my speed which is one of my biggest assets,” he said. “I love the league and the stadiums and the atmospheres. It is another level.”

He was a trailblazer. Bundesliga clubs were quick to recognise that they could offer a platform to young British talents; perhaps it was accompanied by the sense that there was a market to sell them after improving them. Forest, meanwhile, was always capable of developing players, even amid more chaotic times. Burke had made just 33 senior appearances when Leipzig paid £13m for him. “I remember it being a shock to everyone, going to Germany. [It was] like, ‘why Germany?’” he recalled. “It seems like it is quite popular now with players moving abroad.”

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Burke was back in England a year later, helping Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Leipzig finish second in the Bundesliga and making them a profit when he joined West Bromwich Albion for £15m. His taste of the Premier League, whether with West Brom or Sheffield United, has entailed relegation. He helped promoted Bremen stay in the Bundesliga in 2022-23 and come eighth last season. Now Union are 10th.

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They have been on a journey of their own, from the Oberliga Nord, the German fifth tier, to the Champions League two years ago. Yet that rise was followed by a fall, to 15th and then 13th in the Bundesliga. Burke is part of the group of players who face the challenge of following Union’s greatest team. “It is nice that the club has reached these highs and every club strives for greatness,” he said. Union are yet to recapture it, but Burke has scored in arguably their two best results of the season, the 4-3 win in Frankfurt and a 3-1 victory over his former employers from Leipzig. “I definitely feel I am playing some of my best football,” he said. “Obviously the hat-trick against Frankfurt was great.”

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Union are winless in 2026, denting their chances of a return to Europe, but tend to be guaranteed fervent support anyway. “They bring the noise, here and away,” added Burke. “It’s special.” Off the pitch, there is less noise. As a city, the German capital provides a contrast to Burke’s previous home. “It is different to Bremen,” he reflected. “Bremen was a bit quiet. I don’t do really too much off the field, go to the coffee shops with my wife and take a stroll with the pram.”

A low profile may count against him in another respect. He has 13 caps for Scotland, but none since 2020. His country last played in a World Cup when he was a toddler. It looks unlikely he will be part of Steve Clarke’s squad this summer. “It is not my choice on who goes,” said Burke. “It was an absolute honour to wear the badge and represent your country. I would really love that again. I know there is a World Cup coming up, but I have not really been part of it recently.”

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It is one journey the journeyman may not make. “Maybe it is not always good to move so much so quickly,” said Burke, as he looked back on a career that has taken him from Albion to Alaves, from Bremen to Birmingham, from Bradford to the Bundesliga. Perhaps some of that teenage potential has not been realised, but he reflects: “You have ifs, buts and maybes, but this is my journey and what it is, I don’t have any regrets. I think it is just a nice experience to experience a different culture, another country. I have been everywhere, but I love that.”