When Mason Burstow agreed to join Sunderland on transfer deadline day last summer it felt like a move which would suit all parties.
Sunderland were in desperate need of reinforcing their attacking line having sanctioned the sale of talismanic striker Ross Stewart – the Scot having suffered an injury plagued 12-months at the Stadium of Light after contributing significantly to the club’s promotion back into the Championship where his stock remained at a premium. Stewart’s sale to Southampton, in a deal worth up to £10million, signalled the first real testing of the waters of Sunderland’s philosophy in endeavouring to remain financially sustainable while maintaining a competitive edge.
Some of those funds were reinvested into Chelsea youngster Burstow, a player the club had coveted for some time and someone labelled as 'one of the brightest young centre forwards on the cusp of the Premier League environment' by Sunderland's sporting director Kristjaan Speakman, with a loan package suitable enough to fend off interest from elsewhere for his services.
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Burstow’s future remained relatively unclear throughout the final month of the transfer window after the young forward was utilised by new Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino in the club’s pre-season tour of America which included a goal against Borussia Dortmund in Chicago. Given Chelsea’s root and branch surgery to their squad since Todd Boehly’s acquisition of the club, it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility for Burstow to remain at Stamford Bridge, having also featured in Premier League games against West Ham United and Luton Town in the opening month of the season.
The interest in Burstow was ubiquitous, however. Sunderland faced plenty of competition for his signature, including from Serie A and A.C Milan who were able to offer the prospect of Champions League football to the striker. Sunderland’s due diligence paid off, though, following a round of impressive zoom calls between Burstow and his family and former head coach Tony Mowbray who convinced the Londoner to relocate to the North East.
“I knew there was interest at the start of the window,” said Burstow. “It was mainly to buy me, but then Chelsea weren’t having it and obviously I was part of things at Chelsea, being on the bench a few times and coming on.
“Eventually, Pochettino gave me the go-ahead to go out on loan and that’s when Sunderland came straight back in. I knew they had interest the whole window, I knew they were watching me, and that made it a no-brainer to come here.
“When you look at people like Jack [Clarke] and Patrick [Roberts], Jobe (Bellingham), Dan (Neil) and quite a few of the younger lads, they’re great players who have every chance of playing at the top level.
"I watched them from last season because I knew the plan this season was probably to go out on loan, and you could see straight away they were great players building a great team. I knew that before coming here. I knew the standard would be high.”
Burstow quickly established himself as Sunderland’s leading candidate to spearhead their attack under Mowbray, who remained reluctant to introduce Luis Hemir, Eliezer Mayenda and Nazariy Rusyn on a more regular basis. But Burstow's impact failed to measure up to the club’s ambitions with just one goal and one assist to his name throughout the campaign, having also not featured in any of the final eight games of the season - three of those seeing Burstow miss out on the squad altogether.
So why haven’t things worked out for Burstow at Sunderland?
“Mason has got real quality and Mason is going to have a huge future in the game,” Sunderland’s interim head coach Mike Dodds told We Are Sunderland. “I think sometimes with strikers an early goal is so important and in particular with young strikers, and Hemir is in a similar boat.
“Scoring early in your first few games can be huge, psychologically, for strikers because they know the main reason they’re recruited to a football club is to score goals and as that drags on that weight becomes greater and greater.
"Mason is going to be a really good player but it hasn’t quite happened for him, for whatever reason. But I go back to the point; I think the football club have got to reflect on some certain points, I’ve got to reflect on some certain points but I also think the players have to reflect on certain points so Mason, when he goes away in the summer, I’m sure will have some reflections around why he hasn’t been as successful as he would have wanted it to be, or all of us wanted it to be.
“I do think an early goal would have really helped him and it would have really helped Hemir, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.”
Burstow started six consecutive games following his arrival on Wearside but within those six games, he boasted just six attempts at goal, only four inside the penalty area. Burstow’s scuffed effort wide in the 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday representing the highest expected goals (xG) score of 0.15.
In total, Burstow has made 20 appearances for Sunderland, 12 as a starter, but, as per StatsBomb, he has registered just 16 shots at goal at an xG of less than 2.0 – in that regard he has contributed as much as he has been expected to given the volume of efforts he has had at goal.
Dodds is likely right in that all strikers crave an early goal when moving to a new club. For some, they find the back of the net in their first appearance and never look back – consider the aforementioned Stewart who scored on debut with a rather unappealing header against Accrington Stanley, the first of 40 goals in 80 appearances for Sunderland.
Burstow’s conviction, however, is something which always appeared lacking in the early part of the season where a combination of snatching at opportunities and some misfortune, perhaps, prevented him from making that breakthrough which, in turn, led to an increased pressure on his shoulders.
One of Burstow’s finer moves as striker came in the 3-1 win over Birmingham City at the Stadium of Light, an example of being ‘unlucky’ rather than ‘unable.’ As Abdoullah Ba works the ball across the edge of the area to Burstow on the left, the Chelsea loanee does well to shift the ball back onto his right foot, creating half-a-yard of space away from Marcel Oakley before searching for the far corner, curling narrowly wide.
It was a shot which only registered 0.09 in terms of xG, but it was, at least, a sign of a strikers instinct.
As time and games eroded away, however, with Burstow’s goal column remaining at zero, confidence escaped the young striker. Mowbray began cycling through his options with Hemir, Rusyn and Mayenda handed brief moments, albeit it always felt as though Burstow was the club's preferred choice.
Mowbray’s exit, undoubtedly, played its part in Burstow’s form remaining sporadic to say the least, given the role and influence he had in getting the loan deal over the line for the club.
“Tony is a well-respected manager and the fact I can have meetings with him, and he is so passionate about me, asking about me from the start of the window, is massive,” Burstow said. “He wanted me from the start.
“Also, it’s a young team and one of the reasons I came here as well is that it’s easier to fit in with people who are a similar age to me. Tony obviously likes the younger players and wants to help them develop.”
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Following Mowbray’s exit on December 2, Burstow did not start another game until late January under Michael Beale in the win over Stoke City – a game he scored his first goal for the club in.
Although the goal will not feature in any end of season highlight reels, it was a goal any striker will be happy with given his instinctiveness and desire to force an opportunity.
As soon as Jack Clarke threatens to break clear of Lynden Gooch on the left wing, Burstow does what all good strikers should do in driving towards the final third to provide an option. The image below shows how Burstow, at this point, isn’t even looking at Clarke’s movements after establishing he has gotten the better of Gooch, more so his determination to split the centre-back pairing of Ben Wilmot and Michael Rose.
When Clarke nears the byline to cross, Burstow, again, does what all strikers should do in attacking the space across the front of his marker at the near post.
Clarke’s ball in, however, is caught between a cross and a shot which makes it difficult for Burstow to latch onto the end of as Daniel Iversen saves with his feet.
The ball loops into the air from Iversen’s interception but Burstow does well to get back on the field and back onside ahead of the defender who has dropped back onto the line as Ba generates a great leap to win the next contact inside the area.
As Ba’s header lands inside the six-yard box, Burstow has created space to power a header at goal which squirms its way through both lines of defence on the goalline.
Despite getting off the mark against Stoke, Burstow started just three more games as he was unable to build on any potential momentum.
It led to Burstow’s lack of confidence being on show once more, particularly in his recent appearance at Southampton under Dodds. Having started with Rusyn and Hemir in his first three games in interim charge, Dodds turned to Burstow at St Mary’s but the striker failed to make his mark in the 57 minutes he had on the field.
It could have gone differently had Burstow converted inside the opening minute of the game having done the hard part when forcing a turnover from Southampton inside their own half.
Burstow reads an attempted header back to Jack Stephens from full-back Taylor Harwood-Bellis to intercept and set Sunderland clear on the counter-attack.
As Burstow drives towards the edge of the area he is met with a series of options; he can continue advancing into the penalty area towards goal, he can search for a team-mate with Chris Rigg supporting the attack on the edge of the area, or he can try his luck from where he is positioned which he does.
Burstow opens his body out well but is nowhere near threatening Gavin Bazunu’s goal as his effort drifts harmlessly wide.
It set the tone for Burstow who then tried to make amends whenever he did see the ball. The image below shows the striker picking up possession centrally, 30-yards from goal, before dragging well wide, much to the frustration of Rigg, as that lack of composure and conviction reared its head once more.
It hasn’t always been like that for Burstow, however.
The striker enjoyed a successful spell in the youth ranks before being picked up by Charlton Athletic as a 16-year-old where he would score with his first touch on debut in 2021 as a substitute against Crawley Town in the EFL Trophy.
That goal, itself, showed signs of promise as a striker. As Josh Davison picks up possession in midfield, Burstow can be seen making the right run in behind the centre-backs where Davison could opt for that route initially.
Davison, instead, moves play out wide to the right for Charles Clayden who gets to the byline to cross. As we saw from Burstow’s goal against Stoke for Sunderland, he has created separation in the penalty area in anticipation of the cross.
Burstow does well to adjust to the cross which is slightly behind him to guide a header beyond the goalkeeper and mark his senior debut for Charlton with a goal not too dissimilar to the one scored in pre-season for Chelsea when steering Enzo Fernandez’ header back towards goal against Dortmund.
Burstow scored six times in 23 appearances for Charlton before completing a move to Chelsea in January 2022. Despite breaking into senior football at the Valley, Burstow’s move to Stamford Bridge meant a step back into development football in order to establish his craft further.
But the striker never considered it a step back, grasping the opportunity to impress in Chelsea’s youth ranks where he scored 10 goals in Premier League 2 as well as a standout goal in the EFL Trophy against Oxford United.
Burstow’s strike against Oxford highlights, as Dodds referenced, how much confidence plays a part for footballers, none more so than strikers. Where at Sunderland we have seen him snatch at opportunities and be wasteful in the final third, buoyed by his progression in Chelsea’s under-21s team, Burstow was in the mindset of not even needing to think about what his next move on the pitch would be.
As he picks the ball up on halfway, he spots goalkeeper Simon Eastwood off his line and has no hesitation about what he wants to do.
Burstow floats a ball from 40-yards or more with conviction over the stranded goalkeeper and into the back of the net with his very own tribute to David Beckham.
Burstow’s issues at the Stadium of Light go beyond just confidence, however. Sunderland’s set-up and continued variation of such has not helped any of their young forward players this season – particularly with the turnover of voice in the dressing room this season.
Establishing what kind of forward Burstow is has been problematic. Is he being tasked with playing on the shoulder of a defender to run in behind? Is he more geared towards linking up play? Can he be a target man?
Under Beale, Burstow was utilised, at times, as a deep-lying forward to link up play – something we saw most noticeably against Middlesbrough. Although Burstow received some criticisms for his display at the Riverside, the first 45 minutes of his performance actually allowed Sunderland to take control of the game – a game they should have taken the lead in.
Take the image below, for example. As Dan Neil moves possession from a holding midfield role, Burstow drops deep almost towards the halfway line to allow wingers Ba and Clarke to advance beyond him.
Burstow takes possession from Neil and spins before delivering an excellent through ball between the lines for Ba to run onto and force an effort at goal.
That pass for Ba, however, is one of just 10 key passes this season with only one of those converting as an assist for Clarke who picked up his long ball out of defence to score a stunning solo goal at Hillsborough against Sheffield Wednesday back in September.
But the idea of Burstow being more of a defensive forward has some merit to it, as mentioned against Middlesbrough. If you look at the areas in which Burstow pressures out of possession compared to Rusyn, who has featured a similar number of times this season, you can see he offers slightly more in that aspect of his game with plenty of high pressing in the opposition penalty area.
Likewise, if we compare Burstow and Rusyn in terms of their attacking output with things such as carries, recoveries and shots, we can see where Burstow likes to operate in more deeper, central areas of the pitch whereas Rusyn sees more of his activity in wider areas which supports claims made by Beale the Ukrainian may be seen as more of a wide forward than an outright No.9.
Being so far away from the goal will not lend itself to Burstow being the goalscorer Sunderland so desired this season.
In the wake of Stewart’s exit and Amad Diallo’s return to Manchester United, Sunderland needed a home run when it came to their forward acquisition and Burstow, unfortunately, hasn’t been that.
The reference of Amad is worth highlighting, given his success on Wearside when joining on loan from Old Trafford last season. In that regard, it’s easy to see why all parties; Sunderland, Chelsea and Burstow could see this move working out. But the lack of alternatives and options around Burstow have made it difficult and piled the pressure onto young shoulders in what has been his first season in Championship football.
"I wouldn’t say we got lucky with Amad because he had a loan with Rangers prior to us which went terribly," said Dodds. "But Amad and Sunderland fitted, quite clearly, because he’s a wonderful player."
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Burstow will return to Chelsea in the summer, with Sunderland under no obligation to buy the 20-year-old striker, and there will be a lot he will likely reflect upon as to how this move could have worked out differently. But given his profile, and the way Sunderland are keen to operate in terms of their recruitment of players with high potential, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if this isn’t the last we were to see of Burstow on Wearside.
“Because of the way this football club wants to recruit, he’ll always be someone they’ll look at,” Dodds told We Are Sunderland on what happens next with Burstow. “They want players who have upside and potential to buy and work with and either take us to where we need to get to or reinvest the money. So he will always be one who’ll be on our list because he fits that criteria.
“Every single player will get an individual meeting with myself and the coaching staff. There’ll be a review where we will sit and say things we’ve liked about this season, things we haven’t liked about this season, expectations for next season – if you want to play for Sunderland next season and want to have a much better season than we’ve had this season then these are the things we need you to do better at. Every single player will get that meeting in the next seven days.”
Burstow will be subjected to one of those meetings where, unfortunately, there will be more emphasis on what hasn’t worked this season than what has.
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