- Thomas Tuchel popped up late at night for an intimate chat with Dan Burn
- Burn reveals why Tuchel called him ‘very unprofessional’ – in a joking fashion
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Thomas Tuchel’s first act was to jokingly tell off Dan Burn for a ‘very unprofessional’ behaviour as he spilled his England call-up news, the Newcastle star has said.
The England manager popped up on FaceTime at 10pm on Thursday night to tell Burn that he had made his first-ever England squad.
Burn, 32 is hoping to earn his first cap in the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia after a circuitous route via Asda and non-league led to his scoring in Toon’s Carabao Cup win on Sunday.
Tuchel initially longlisted 55 players and told Burn on Tuesday last week that he could still be excluded, leaving him with a nail-biting wait.
‘I’d definitely say I’ve had worse weeks,’ Burn told reporters.
‘The manager FaceTimed us (me) on Tuesday saying that they were debating whether they were calling us up and that they’d let us know Thursday.
Dan Burn says Thomas Tuchel jokingly told him off for being awake at 10pm on a FaceTime call
The Newcastle star was called ‘very unprofessional’ by a cheeky Tuchel on Thursday night
Burn, 32, faced three anxious days of waiting for confirmation over his place in the squad
‘It got to six o’clock on Thursday night and I had not heard anything so I said to my wife, “nothing is going to happen.”
‘Then I got a text saying ‘are you still awake’ at 10pm and I was like, ‘yes,’ straight away.
‘I got a Facetime call and it was good news. I did struggle to sleep on Thursday night.
‘First of all, he said I was very unprofessional for being in bed for 10 o’clock!’ So, I apologised for that!
‘Then he said he has been ringing everyone that had not made the squad. He just said he needed to end the day on a good note.
‘He wanted us to be in the squad and just said to do what my strengths were, which I’d explained when I spoke to him.
‘I thought I could offer just as much off the pitch as I do on.’
Burn was unable to celebrate Newcastle’s Carabao Cup win in extravagant fashion because his England call-up meant he had to be up fresh the next morning.
Burn could not stay up all night celebrating Newcastle’s Carabao Cup win due to England duty
He said: ‘It was strange. As soon as I left the stadium (on Sunday) my focus completely switched to this.
‘I had my family here and the kids and we ended up getting on the bus about 12 o’clock back to the hotel.
‘It was getting a bit rowdy and I was just ready to go to sleep!
‘There will be time to celebrate.
‘I know the club’s put stuff out about there being a parade (a week) on Saturday, so I think that’s when I’ll celebrate.
‘But I’ve waited a long time for this opportunity.
‘And didn’t want to spoil it.’
