Carlisle United can earn Millwall’s millions if prospect fulfils lofty potential | OneFootball

Carlisle supporters have only seen small glimpses of the potential that their newest signing previously showed.

Tyler Burey became the first signing of the Mike Williamson era at Carlisle United when the club announced his arrival on Saturday.

The head coach had publicly admitted that the club were looking at the free agent market prior to signing Burey, 23, after a string of injuries left Williamson with a severely reduced number of options in attacking areas.

Daniel Adu-Adjei, Georgie Kelly and Jordan Jones (half of Carlisle's true forwards) are yet to return to first-team action after picking up their respective knocks. Their absence from the team has been truly felt, and has been represented by the two goals that United have scored in four games since the last of those injuries, to Jones, was picked up.

The Blues' supporters have seen a couple glimpses of Burey's ability in two substitute appearances against Harrogate Town and Walsall. Having not had a pre-season, the forward is still trying to work his way up to full fitness - as are a lot of Carlisle's players - but he's not caught the eye much in the 56 total minutes in which he has featured for the club.

The cameos that he has had are also not representative of the prospect that many thought he would be during his time with Millwall, where he was one of their better prospects.

Tyler Burey's strong reputation as a Millwall youngster

Burey was bought by Millwall from AFC Wimbledon in 2019 and made his Championship debut in July 2020 as a 19-year-old. He made 58 appearances for the Lions, including 14 starts in the league across four second tier seasons, scoring three goals and providing one assist.

Millwall had high hopes for Burey, but things started to go downhill for him. He fell out of favour with manager Gary Rowett and was eventually sent to train with the under-21s.

He ended up being sold to Danish Superliga side Odense BK for a fee estimated to be in the six-figure range last summer. Rowett stated, after Burey's departure, that he thought a: "change of environment," could bring the best out of the wide forward.

The ex-Lions boss added that he felt the move to Odense would suit him in a footballing sense. That didn't prove to be the case. The 23-year-old only played six times for the Danish side before being loaned out to Oxford United in January, for whom he played just five times in League One.

Carlisle will wish to unlock the potential of former Millwall youngster

There's no doubt from his time at The Den that there is ability there. Millwall often have strong, young talent coming through their ranks and wouldn't give so much game time to someone like Burey if they didn't believe that he could turn into something positive for them.

There's also no doubt that Carlisle need help in attack. Clear-cut chances haven't come easily in the games that Burey has featured in. Williamson needs the natural talent of his first Carlisle signing to start shining pretty soon and help them put the ball in the back of the net.

One concern for United supporters is that they may feel that they've heard this story before. A young talented forward from a London club moves to Brunton Park after making a name for himself in the Championship and then struggling at a League One promotion contender. Sounds a lot like Luke Plange, doesn't it?

Carlisle will, at this point, be praying that Burey turns into the million pound prospect that Millwall thought he could be, rather than another half-season dud.