Dan Burn said he was "not coming in to be a cheerleader" following his first senior England call-up for their World Cup qualifiers this month. 

Burn was named in Thomas Tuchel's first Three Lions squad for their upcoming clashes with Albania and Latvia, fresh from helping Newcastle United lift the EFL Cup. 

The defender scored the opening goal in the Magpies' 2-1 win over Liverpool at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, becoming the third-oldest Englishman to score in an EFL Cup final, after Stoke's George Eastham in 1972 (35y 163d) and John Terry for Chelsea in 2015 (34y 84d).

He has been in imperious form for Eddie Howe's side this season, helping them compete in the fight for Champions League football next year while also playing a starring role in ending the club's 70-year wait for a major honour. 

In the Premier League this season, no player has won more aerial duels than Burn (101), while he has also kept a team-high nine clean sheets for Newcastle across the 27 top-flight games he has featured in. 

And with the likes of Marc Guehi, Levi Colwill and Ezri Konsa among the central defenders in the current squad with England caps under their belt, Burn said he was not there just to make up the numbers.

"He [Thomas Tuchel] said I've been playing well for a long time. I'm not just coming in to be a cheerleader - I want to play," Burn said. 

Our latest #ThreeLions call-ups pic.twitter.com/35Y1orcfvg

— England (@England) March 17, 2025

There was talk that Burn could have been involved in the England ranks for the 2022 World Cup, having produced a string of impressive performances at left-back for Brighton and then Newcastle after he completed a January move to St. James' Park. 

Former Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate opted to take Luke Shaw and Newcastle team-mate Kieran Trippier as cover in that position to Qatar, a tournament that saw England knocked out in the quarter-finals by eventual finalists, France. 

Though only just receiving his first international call-up at 32 years old, Burn believed he was overlooked by Southgate during his eight-year tenure in charge. 

"I've got a good few years in me, no retirement yet! I think I have been overlooked, but I understood it - what Gareth did to bring England from where it was to where it is now," he said. 

"In my opinion, he treated it more like a club, which worked well for them. It wasn't like it was back in the day.

"It was about the togetherness, but that worked against me a little bit. So, when the new manager came in, it was kind of a new slate.

"Luckily, the new manager has taken a chance on me and I want to grasp the opportunity."

Burn went on to reveal that he felt his lack of international experience worked against him in previous years, adding that he thought the opportunity to represent his country had passed him by. 

"I think so. There was a little bit of chat around the World Cup 2022 when I was playing left-back. I never played any international football, which worked against me," Burn said.

"I did think it had passed us by at 32. When the new manager came in, it was that feeling of 'you never know'."

Among the England players in Tuchel's first squad, only Jordan Henderson and Kyle Walker are older than Burn. 

It’s time to reveal Thomas Tuchel’s first #ThreeLions squad!

— England (@England) March 14, 2025