Newcastle United’s Dan Burn is not hard to miss at 6 feet 7 inches, but the defender stands out even more due of his missing finger.
Burn has made 148 Premier League games and helped Newcastle reach the Champions League last season.
He scored his first goal in Europe’s top club competition against Paris Saint-Germain and has proven to be a steal at £13 million.
However, it is only recently, as Burn has become a household figure, that his unique narrative has come to light.
Because of a childhood accident, the former Fulham and Wigan Athletic player only has nine fingers.
Many admirers have noticed his missing phalange, but Burn has never addressed it personally in an interview. The story says that when he was 13, he was climbing a fence.
According to The Free Library, Burn was wearing a ring on his finger when it became entangled in a spike in the fence.
His finger, on his right hand was completely severed off in the gruesome accident.
It’s clearly not served as a disadvantage to Burn. Released by Newcastle’s academy, he now finds himself back at his boyhood club and occupying a key role for Eddie Howe’s side.
He is, however, not the only footballer who is missing a finger. Paulo Diogo, a Swiss footballer, had one of the worst injuries in football history in December 2004.
He set up a goal for former Wigan defender Jean Beausejour when playing for Servette.
In jubilation, he jumped on the metal fence and got his ring stuck, causing his finger to be severed.
Surprisingly, the officials at the game were looking for his finger, and Diogo was yellow carded for wasting time.
He eventually had to have the rest of his finger amputated but continued to play.
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