Howe on His Howieson!

It was a remarkable week last week for Cameron Howieson

The attacking midfielder signed his first professional contract with Burnley at the age of 17 on the 29th March 2012 just one day after playing in the FA Youth Cup Semi-Final against Blackburn Rovers at Turf Moor. Sadly of course we went out of the competition with Rovers winning 2-1 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate but all the lads that played that night can be proud of their achievements including Cameron. He has played a vital role in their cup run this season helping them to beat Youth Academy sides, Ipswich, West Brom and Fulham along the way. The New Zealander scored two goals in the FA Youth Cup quarter final against Fulham in February 2012, helping the Clarets reach the semi finals for the first time since 1978.

His perfomances this season have not gone unnoticed either with reports that Premier League clubs, Liverpool and Newcastle had him in their sights!

Thankfully Burnley have now managed to negotiate a contract with him and keep the wolves at bay. He will remain at the club at least until the end of the 2013/14 season.

It got even better for Howieson when he travelled down with the first team to Fratton Park on Saturday and found he was named on the bench after being allocated shirt squad number 32. Although he did not feature in Burnley’s 5-1 thumping of Portsmouth, it will have been a proud day for him and good experience for the future.

Howieson born in Dunedin, New Zealand is already a New Zealand U17 international and signed for Burnley in July 2011 after playing as a youth for Mosgiel AFC and the Asia-Pacific Football Academy.

Talking about Howieson’s first professional deal and also that of left back, Luke Conlan manager Eddie Howe said:

‘We believe it’s vitally important that we produce our own players and this is another important step in that direction. Cameron and Luke have both done very well this season and deserve the contracts they have been given.

‘We believe both are very promising players who will develop further from working more regularly with the first-team squad. It has been an excellent season at youth level and we believe there are few who are good enough to make the step up.’

Well done Cameron on a great week!!