EDGAR IS A CLARET

As we mentioned yesterday on the blog, David Edgar is set to sign with Burnley, now it appears official, as reported by the Burnley website.

Edgar will wear the number 15 shirt for Owen Coyle's squad and looks to be a regular in the squad throughout the season.

The Canadian International will earn close to £10,000 a week at Burnley, for whom he has already completed a medical, and crucially for the Canada international, has been guaranteed first-team football. Edgar was reluctant to sign a deal with Burnley after being at Newcastle since the age of 14 and having come through their academy.

Birmingham City had also shown interest in Edgar but the player opted for Burnley, who will play in England's top flight next season for the first time in 33 years. Despite the fact Edgar is a free agent, Newcastle are entitled to compensation as he is under 23 years of age and has come through their academy. The two clubs will begin discussions on the size of the fee today.

Two things I like about this move. Edgar gets to play regular first team football and he gets to do so, in the premier league. This is going to be fantastic for the Canadian National squad. It is only going to benefit the team down the road as they will now attempt to qualify for the 2014. The young players will have to step up.

The second thing is that it shows that some Canadians that play in a top league will continue to play for Canada. We reported earlier in the week that Asmir Begovic has decided to play for Bosnia and Herzegovina after the manager, Mirolsav "Ciro" Blazevic, told sportsport.ba that he had decided to play for them and not us. Now, I am still holding out hope (because Begovic hasn't played for B&H yet) that Edgar will give his fellow U-20 squad member a call and tell him that the two of them should be the ones to lead Canada to the big time. They are the next generation of players, actually the first generation of players. to truly lead Canada to glory.