Ipswich Town: Wes Burns on Kieran McKenna & Craig Bellamy comparisons

Both aged 38, McKenna retired from professional football to focus on coaching at a young age, while Bellamy’s playing career spanned 18 years and saw him play numerous seasons in the Premier League.

As managers, Burns believes that they have a similar approach to the game, which has helped him settle back into football at international level.

"There's so many similarities between how he wants to play here and what I usually play like for Ipswich,” he explained.

"At Ipswich it's front foot football, high press, high risk high reward football, so I should slot in seamlessly here.

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"It seems like they [McKenna and Bellamy] are cut from the same cloth. It's like they've come out of the same football school.

"Both want to play a good style of football, possession-based, try and score on every attack if possible. Then if we lose the ball, there's an instant reaction to win the ball back as quickly as possible and swarm teams.”

Burns missed Bellamy’s first games in charge of Wales after picking up a hamstring injury in the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on the opening day of the Premier League season. It’s not the first time it’s happened, and he’s trying his best to limit the amount of time that he spends on the sidelines.

"I've seen a number of specialists, especially after my last time, to get on top of why it kept happening,” he revealed.

Burns picked up a hamstring injury on the opening day of the Premier League season (Image: PA)

"There's not really much I can do to prevent it. Sometimes with sprint athletes, even GB athletes, it happens. They run in a straight line and it can still happen.

"A game of football, there's so many variations, someone can knock you off balance when you're running at high speed, it can send stresses through your body that don't usually go there, and that's where injuries happen.

"Unfortunately for me it's just the nature of the beast.”

In a response, a Welsh journalist suggested that he should try yoga like Ryan Giggs did, to which Burns said: "I'm trying pilates every morning so hopefully that takes the edge off it. It's tough because I'm not that flexible.”

His absence from the last set of international fixtures has meant that he’s still getting to know Bellamy, having noticed how busy he was ahead of their games against Turkey and Montenegro.

"I knew he had loads of stuff going on prior to his first camp,” Burns said. “I didn't want to pester him too much, I did think about picking up the phone and giving him a courtesy call and explaining I was looking forward to the next camp and I was hoping to be a part of it.

"I left him to it, but since I've come in here I've had a couple of chats with him in terms of talking about football.

"His football brain is mental, so I don't really want to go toe-to-toe in terms of talking too much football with him because his knowledge is through the roof.

"But I'll try and pick his brains every now and then.”

Working with a manager of Bellamy’s stature is, in itself, significant for Burns. Not only has he won major trophies with the likes of Celtic and Liverpool, but he also earned 78 caps for Wales, making him one of the key footballing figures in the country.

"I think it would have been different had I been able to play with him,” Burns admitted.

The winger is playing under Craig Bellamy for the first time in his career (Image: PA)

"Usually when people cross over into the coaching side of football you end up having a different type of respect for a football manager than you do if they were still playing.

"I used to love watching him, he was my style of player to a tee. Aggressive front foot football, scored goals, feisty, loved a tackle so I think there's a different respect for someone when they cross that line and go to the manager's side.”

Of course, Burns would love to follow in his footsteps and become a vital player for Wales in the coming months and years, with his next aim to earn a spot in Bellamy’s first-choice starting lineup.

"That was always my ambition coming into any camp,” he argued. “I've always wanted to come in and have an impact.

"I'm hoping this time around with the style of play that's suited to me and a defensive style that I do on a weekly basis that hopefully I can have a bigger part to play this time around.”

His journey to the top has definitely been different to Bellamy’s. Burns was signed by Ipswich in League One, working his way up the pyramid to finally play in the Premier League at the age of 29. 

"I've played in every league in English football from the Conference to the Premier League, so I think I've learned a few tricks along the way that may help me as the season goes on,” he said.

"It's been some journey. Maybe if I looked back three or four years ago I probably would have thought my dream of playing in the Premier League was near enough over. 

"My time at Fleetwood was coming to an end and I was looking around for other clubs to kickstart my career again. 

Burns has played five league games for Ipswich Town so far this season (Image: Ross Halls)

"I walked into an Ipswich transition that could go one of two ways, it can keep going downwards or we were going to spike like we have done.

"Luckily for me I found a manager that got the best out of me and has propelled me back to where the club wanted to go, but not only that, has helped me achieve my dreams.”

Reflecting on his season so far, it’s clear that it’s been a mixed bag. “I picked up an injury in my first game which was unfortunate,” he recalled. “You go through such a gruelling pre-season, ours was longer this year because we finished earlier in the Championship before the Premier League season started. 

"To pick up an injury in the first game, I was a little bit devastated really. I worked hard to get back as quickly as possible.

"I've played fairly regularly since I've been back, I've started all games bar one, and I'm adjusting to life in the Premier League quite well I think.

"It's a very physical league, the quality of player is through the roof. 

"Every team has got a squad that's more than capable of giving anyone a beating in the league, so it's mentally tough as well.

"You can't come off it for a second or you'll get punished, and I think we felt that for the first time against West Ham at the weekend.”

Burns and Nathan Broadhead could be in action for Wales this evening as they host Montenegro in Cardiff. The former might be in line to start, with first-choice right winger Brennan Johnson suspended.