Karius, Burn and Almiron: The unlikely lads at Newcastle aiming for League Cup glory

On the weekend Manchester United won their last English trophy to date, the 2017 League Cup, Dan Burn was facing up to a relegation battle.

It was taking place several tiers below the level he anticipated where his career should be going in his mid-20s. The towering defender was at Wigan Athletic. They were heading towards League One, English football’s third division.

At around the same time, Miguel Almiron was making a new home for himself in Georgia, USA. Almiron had just turned 23. He had been strongly linked with a move to Inter Milan in Italy that winter.

Where he ended up instead, after impressing in Argentinian football, was a backwater by comparison. He joined Atlanta United, a franchise only just brought into being in the American MLS. It was hardly an obvious launch pad to stardom.

Back in February 2017, Loris Karius, similar in age to Burn and Almiron, had just lost his place in Liverpool’s first-team. It would take the German goalkeeper the best part of a year to climb back up the hierarchy. And Karius would have good reasons, later, to wish his return to the first XI had followed a very different trajectory.

Burn, Almiron and Karius are just three of the Newcastle United players who bring mazy backstories to a major Wembley occasion this weekend, a League Cup final that, although it will gather tens of thousands from two clubs with huge support-bases, looks a modern novelty.

Miguel Almiron has scored 10 goals for Newcastle United this season. Getty

Since Manchester United won the competition six years ago, it has been monopolised by the dominant forces of recent Premier Leagues. Manchester City have taken home the trophy four times, Liverpool once, the same ratio as the league titles those clubs have