Flanagan arrives on loan
Burnley have secured the signature of Liverpool full back Jon Flanagan on a season long loan just months after he signed a new three year deal with his home town club.
The 23-year-old Flanagan made his Liverpool debut over five years ago when he was named in the side to face Manchester City in April 2011. He played the whole game which Liverpool won 3-0 with two Andy Carroll goals and one from Dirk Kuyt.
Things were looking good for him, he became very much part of the first team squad at Anfield and, after playing at under-19, under-20 and under-21 level, he made his full England debut in June 2012 in a friendly against Ecuador. The game ended 2-2 with the England goals coming from Wayne Rooney and Rickie Lambert with Flanagan coming on as a substitute for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
It remains his only appearance for England although he was on the stand by list for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. However, his career was about to come to a standstill.
He was ruled out of the start of the 2014/15 season with a build up of fluid on the knee. What looked set to keep him out for a month became more serious. Corrective surgery on his left knee meant he didn’t play again until March. That was in a charity game and led to further problems with scans confirming that more surgery was needed.
Coming out of contract, Liverpool extended it by a year to enable him to get fit and he finally returned to full training just before last Christmas and made his comeback appearance in January. He went on to play eight times in the remainder of last season including five Premier League starts.
Such were his performances that Jürgen Klopp rewarded him with a deal until the end of the 2018/19 season, but it has been reported that he was keen to get him a loan deal to allow him more game time, and Burnley were linked with him almost immediately.
That deal has now gone through and he has become part of Sean Dyche’s squad at Burnley for the 2016/17 season.
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