Wellington Phoenix's Nathan Burns returns to his home town to take on old club Adelaide United Nathan Burns celebrates scoring for Wellington Phoenix. Picture: Hagen Hopkins Source: Getty Images NATHAN Burns was described as the new Harry Kewell when he had just turned 18. But the Kewell tag was cruel. His career was mapped out by critics when he burst on the scene as an exciting playmaker with Adelaide United. Burns" explosive speed, his excellent dribbling skills, his clever runs and a penchant for cool finishing made the then teenager hot property. Prophets predicted Burns would take the baton from Kewell in a succession plan after he was capped by former Socceroo boss Pim Verbeek in 2008. But Burns is yet to represent the Socceroos at a FIFA World Cup - two tournaments have zipped past in 2010 and 2014 - and time is creeping fast. By the time Russia's FIFA World Cup kicks off Burns will be 30. Burns claimed the Kewell fantasy was just that. "It's more the media that were blowing it up,"" Burns said. I was in an environment with (former Reds skipper) Ross Aloisi and all these players at Adelaide United and I didn't see myself as being the next Harry Kewell, I was still grounded. As a player you really never get ahead of yourself but once I got to Europe I saw the real side of being a player. Kristian Sarkies, Bruce Djite and Nathan Burns at Adelaide United training in 2007. Maybe I thought I actually was better than I actually was and I got a pretty big shock. And that's seen by a lot of players who go to Europe. They tend to find it really difficult to get in and stay there and play regularly. But I never ever saw myself as being the next Harry Kewell. The next Harry Kewell probably won't be along for a while, let's be honest. Burns arrived in SA just before Adelaide's second A-League season in 2006/07. The then teenager from Blayney, NSW was an instant success. He made his A-League debut and scored for the Reds against defunct club New Zealand Knights in 2006. Burns then became the first Reds player to score an A-League hat trick in January 2007 in a 3-1 win over Central Coast in Gosford to give Adelaide a second-place finish behind Melbourne Victory. Hand-picked by former Adelaide boss John Kosmina Burns recalls the past. Hugo Ayala and Socceroo Nathan Burns fight for the ball during the Mexico v Australia friendly match in Oakland, California in 2008. "The culture in that team during that period was really good,"" he said. It was between us and Melbourne Victory for the two teams to beat. It was a pleasure to play for Adelaide at that time. To get the chance under Kossie, to come in, I wasn't expecting a lot. I remember (Reds football director) Michael Petrillo and he said it was going to be hard with Rech, Qu and Veart in front of me. But six games in I was starting and I happened to score against Sydney FC and then it just kicked off from there. Burns had another bumper second season with the Reds. Former Reds assistant Aurelio Vidmar stepped up to the senior mantle after Kosmina was forced to resign after the 2007 grand final disaster and Burns became the main focal point in a sorry A-League season where the club finished outside the finals for the first time. But Adelaide's 2008 AFC Champions League campaign saw the Reds regather steam. Burns helped lead Adelaide to the top of the group after playing a farewell game in Chanchung where United needed at least a point to qualify for the knockout stages. Burns was outstanding in an extremely hostile environment where Changchun Yatai needed to win to force Adelaide out of the Champions League race. As the game drew towards a close Changchun fans started ripping seats up and throwing them onto the pitch. At Beijing airport he bade his mates farewell before boarding for Athens to start a new career. Burns signed a four-year deal with Greek giants AEK Athens. He said the move to AEK forced him out of the Australian soccer cocoon. Once I was in Europe it was all about results. Kossie and Viddie were developing me but this was something else,"" Burns said. "The AEK coach of the day was not going to take me under his wing and tell me the runs that he wants or coach me personally, it was basically "are you ready?" It was all about the three points and AEK and the Greek league at the time was a step up. My whole stint at AEK went to plan by my expectations but obviously the media's expectations were different. The first year I didn't play at AEK - we had players like Rivaldo and we had players on $1 million net a season in our starting line up. Being an 18 and 19-year-old I wasn't anywhere near those wages so I was not expected to play ... normally the big wages means your expected to play. Burns was then loaned out to second division Kerkyra were he established himself with the club which won promotion before returning to AEK as a regular starter. Burns played Europa League football before Greece's economy totally collapsed forcing clubs to deal with the threat of bankruptcy. Burns was a wanted man but with the club offering reduced wages and an economic crisis causing unrest among the masses the attacking midfielder exited Greece. "By that third year it was perfect at AEK and then the whole country just fell through (economically) and so did a lot of other parts of Europe,"" Burns said. I think we had a new coach every 10 months but we had a good dressing room at AEK. Burns career then hit a roadblock after he signed for K-League club Incheon United. He made limited appearances in three seasons after injuring his knee during his first pre season with the club. Burns described the rehabilitation as "old school" before Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick came calling this year. "I still believe that if you can play in Korea you can play anywhere,"" Burns said. But it didn't work out, they just made me do a lot of running and nothing specific to football in rehab. But I have no regrets, it's been a great journey.