Zian Flemming opens up on 'surreal' Burnley move, helicopter drama and previous interest

The forward’s loan capture, which includes an obligation to buy, was officially revealed at 11.30pm last Friday, half an hour after the deadline had passed.

It followed a bizarre evening on social media, where Burnley fans had managed to track down a helicopter that had taken Flemming from London to the club’s Gawthorpe training ground.

Reflecting on his move to Turf Moor and a whirlwind 24 hours, the 26-year-old told Clarets+: “It still feels a bit surreal. It hasn’t sunk in yet but I’m very happy.

“I had never been in a helicopter before. I had been made aware by a Dutch friend of mine who saw it on Twitter – that someone had tracked me on the flight. I didn’t know it was possible. But they were right, it was that helicopter that I was on.

“It’s surreal and it sums up transfer deadline day that I travelled in such fashion.”

Such is the hectic nature of the transfer window, Flemming had only been made aware of Burnley’s interest the day before the deadline.

“It was only on Thursday morning when I found out about Burnley’s interest. That was just before training,” he revealed.

“I still didn’t really know the details and how serious it was, so I went to training and then spoke to my agent and my Dad and figured out it was quite serious.

“I thought to myself ‘the next day is deadline day, so maybe my world is about to turn upside down in the next 24 hours’ or maybe not, because you never know.

“He (his Dad) is always involved in everything, but also on the football side.

“In the Championship they (Burnley) are one of the biggest clubs and one of the favourites to go up again. Obviously they have just come down from the Premier League so they have big ambitions.

“The Championship is a really tough league, I’ve known that now for the past two years so it’s impressive to stand out in a league like that, which they obviously did during the promotion year.”

It was second time lucky for the Clarets, who had also shown serious interest in the Dutchman during the previous summer’s window under Vincent Kompany.

Flemming added: “Burnley had just gone up to the Premier League, so that would’ve been moving to the Premier League. That deal, in the end, didn’t get done and I played another year at Millwall.”

The forward, who is also capable of playing across the front three or even as a number 10, has scored 23 times in 92 appearances during his two years with Millwall.

Discussing what Clarets fans can expect from him, Flemming added: “I’ll always be a hard-word working player. I’m attack-minded and I will always try and get myself into the box and score goals. That could also be from outside the box as well though, I have a good range of shooting or an ability to get on the end of attacks and crosses.

"I’m very goal driven but I normally play from the number 10 role, slightly behind the nine but it obviously depends on the system of the manager.”