SEAN DYCHE admits Burnley will be forced to sell Dwight McNeil eventually – when another club makes them an offer they cannot refuse.
The Clarets are desperate to hold onto the England under-21 midfielder for as long as possible but Dyche accepts McNeil will follow out the like of Michael Keane, Danny Ings and Andre Gray.
Rochdale-born midfielder Dwight McNeil has already been linked with Man Utd, despite only making his Burnley debut in May 2018Credit: Getty – Contributor
Dwight McNeil will eventually move up in the football world, according to his Burnley chief Sean DycheCredit: Getty Images – Getty
McNeil, 20, has been heavily linked with Manchester United and Crystal Palace recently and Burnley boss Dyche knows it will not be long before an offer of around £30million comes in.
Dyche said: “Look, we know Dwight is a player who will certainly go beyond us – but in a positive way.
“We don’t remotely want to lose good players. But eventually some players will outgrow the club in the sense of a bigger club coming along and buying them because of their skill set.
“Dwight is clearly a top talent. He is playing and delivering every week.
“If he remains grounded and keeps the hard work ethic he’s got – and I’m sure he will do that – then his talent will continue to shine through. And we’re not naïve enough to think it’s going to go un-noticed.”
HORSE-WHISPERING
Dyche feels McNeil has actually improved as a player during the three defeats that have seen the Clarets slip from seventh in the table to 13th – because he is seeing less of the ball!
He explained: “When we played Manchester City people were saying ‘why did you take Dwight off?’ It certainly wasn’t because of his playing ability, by the way.
“It’s because we had three games in a week and he’s a young lad, we’re asking a lot of him.
“And games like that are all part of your learning. We all know he can play – definitely – but how can you operate when you haven’t got the ball as much, how can you be effective on those tough days?
“With Dwight, we don’t over-coach him because a lot of it he sees the game very well. It’s more like a bit of horse-whispering to make sure it’s being absorbed.
“For a young player he sees the bigger picture very quickly. He is seeing the patterns of the game in attack and in defence, smelling out the right positions defensively to stop the opposition, or at least slow them down.
“And equally in attack, he can see the pockets to go and play in. He will run at a defender, carry it forward and take his man on, which is a great weapon in the modern game.
“It’s one you don’t see as much these days. Knowing the time to it is what’s getting better in his game, making the right decisions. I have been very impressed with that part of his development.
“And playing against Manchester City in the form they were in against us can only have helped him – looking at how quickly they work in transition, how quickly their focus changes from attack to defence, and defence to attack.
“They read those kind of situations incredibly quickly. That’s something that Dwight will continue to master.
“Dwight gets us, and I like that about him. He knows it’s tough for us, he knows we’re not going to walk into games and have 70 per cent possession.
“The good side of that for a young player is that when he has got the ball he’s got to really take care of it.
“He does that well , and he can drive at people when it’s needed – but he’s learning how to pop it off and play it simple when it’s called for. So I think he’s continuing to mature nicely.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
