Centre half Christian Burgess began his career at Arsenal's academy but dropped out of professional football in order to read for a History degree at the University of Birmingham. It was while playing for his college team that Burgess caught the eye of professional scouts, with Middlesbrough being impressed enough to offer him a two-year contract. He made his Boro debut in a 2-0 defeat at Hillsborough on the last day of the 2012/13 season. One of the Sheffield Wednesday goalscorers that day was Steve Howard, who was enjoying a loan spell with the Owls on loan from Pools. Later that summer Howard and Burgess were teammates as new Pools boss Colin Cooper used his Middlesbrough connections to bring the talented youngster to the Vic on a half-season loan. Burgess went straight into the Pools first team and scored his first professional goal in a Johnstone's Paint Trophy match against Bradford City in September 2013.