Dan Burn has starred for Newcastle throughout recent seasons and his sheer size makes him hard to miss.
But as his crunching tackles and dressing room dances keep him in the spotlight, many fans have been surprised to find out that the Magpies’ 6ft 7in colossus is actually missing a finger!
Burn has gone from strength to strength since he sealed a £13million move from Brighton back to his boyhood club in the 2022 January transfer window.
The 32-year-old quickly installed himself as a rock at the back for Eddie Howe‘s Newcastle and he has now made over 130 appearances for the club.
However, every time Burn appears on television screens the same question continues to surface from fans watching at home.
He is closing in on 500 senior career games but surprisingly the story of his finger actually has nothing to do with football.
According to reports, the centre-back is without his ring finger on his right hand following an accident he was involved in as a teenager.
Back when he was just 13, Burn was wearing a ring while climbing a fence when it caught on a spike, as per The Free Library.
The gruesome incident led to his finger being ripped off which must have been a horrific moment for the youngster.
But Burn has more than overcome the adversity to make it as a professional and eventually become a fan-favourite at St James’ Park.
He also isn’t afraid to make light of his missing digit, as he laughed with teammates about it last summer.
As Newcastle travelled to Germany ahead of the current Premier League season, they visited Adidas HQ.
While there, Burn, Harvey Barnes and Sean Longstaff tried on goalkeeper gloves which were meant for five fingers, of course.
As he pulled them on, all three burst into laughter and Burn wiggled the spare glove finger around in the air.
The defender is more than comfortable with his hands and it doesn’t seem to impact his performances.
In fact, he’s been playing so well for Newcastle that he was handed a contract extension in October.
After originally signing a new deal last year, he had an option triggered by the club to keep him until 2026.
So we’ve still got a couple more years of Burn being spotted having only three fingers on his right hand!
