QUEEN’S PARK FC has extended the contract of 17-year-old defender Cole Burke, who has resumed pre-season training with the first-team this summer.
Burke was frequently in and around Sean Crighton’s first team squad last season, making his full debut in the Premier Sports Cup group stages while still a pupil at Holyrood Secondary School.
The teenager later went on to lead Queen’s Park out as captain in the Scottish Youth Cup Final at Hampden.
He also helped the under-17s to a league and cup double in the CAS Advanced Youth League under the tutelage of Lee Mitchell and Charley King, while also stepping up to under-19 level.
First-team manager Sean Crighton said: “We probably saw the best of Burkey early last season when he was just 16-years-old. He’s a good defender who loves to defend.
“Over the course of the season he picked up a few injuries last season and maybe came back soon from them but we are looking to him as one for the future.
“With those injuries he had a stop-start year but we think he can dfinitely push on and he is one we will be looking to push this season.
“He’s a great boy, well liked around the changing room and he’s a good talent.
“For now he’ll be round about us in the first-team but we have discussed perhaps pushing him with minutes out on loan and testing himself there however for now he’ll have the opportunity to push himself with us and establish himself as a player at first-team level even though he’s still only 17.”
