Cheltenham Town have continued their January recruitment drive with the loan signing of Cameron Burgess from Championship side Fulham.
The 20-year-old, who spent the first 10 years of his life growing up in Aberdeen, plays for the Olyroos- the Australian national under-23 football team- after his family emigrated to Perth.
The 6″4 centre-back has made a handful of senior appearances for Fulham’s first team and will slot straight into Gary Johnson’s side for the visit of Bromley this coming Saturday.
Speaking to the media this week, Burgess has been discussing the reasons why he made the move to Gloucestershire:
“First of all the team is top of the league, it’s good experience for me to play against some top players and with some of the top players in the league as well. I watched the [Dover] game on Sunday and the boys were obviously not the best we can be but promising because they got the result.
Another reason is the manager, he’s got a lot of experience in league football and knows exactly what he wants to do.
As one of the tallest in the squad, it’s easy to say he will be good in the air however the defender has said he has more to his game than just heading:
“I guess heading is one of the strengths of my game but I’d like to think I’m pretty good on the ball too. I mean time will tell against certain opposition- I think headers and tackles are fundamental to my game and I need to be good at those each and every game.”
Commenting on his newest January signing, Gary Johnson is confident Burgess can adapt to his style of play in time for Saturday’s game with Bromley.
“He’s definitely ready as far as his fitness is concerned. I’ve had a chat with him, he’s probably seen more videos on us and my philosophy than he had done previously in his career because I sat here with him. But you could see he was a football person because he was interested in things, he was intently watching as opposed to looking at his watch wondering when it was going to finish.”
Burgess will be looking to make his debut when Cheltenham Town take on Bromley on Saturday afternoon at The World of Smile Stadium.