Burnley's Dyche in waiting mode over Keane's future
BURNLEY, England Burnley manager Sean Dyche says the club are in "wait and see" mode over the future of their England international defender Michael Keane, who has been linked with several top clubs.
On Thursday Keane, 24, was nominated by the Professional Footballers' Association for the Young Player of the Year award and with just a year left on his contract at Turf Moor, his future could well be away from the Lancashire club.
Asked whether keeping Keane, who signed from Manchester United in 2015, was a goal for Burnley, Dyche told reporters:
"It is the way it is. We are always speaking to these players and their advisers because we can't not do that because we are not powerful enough to just say 'here is a pot of gold, you are staying', we are not that club.
"We always have to have an open dialogue with them. At the moment we will just wait to see what happens, the way he is (doing), it is just that mutual respect of the situation, that's where it is at," he said.
Dyche said he lured Keane, whose contract runs to the end of next season, with the offer of a chance to grow as a player.
"I am pleased because part of my sales pitch to get him here was that he is in a group that will develop and he will be a big part of that, so I am pleased from our point of view that that has rung true for him."
Keane made his full England debut last month in the friendly against Germany and then played in the World Cup qualifier against Lithuania.
The other nominees for Young Player of the Year award are Everton forward Romelu Lukaku, Tottenham attacker Dele Alli, Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and Manchester City winger Leroy Sane.
“He deserves to be in that company. I just think he has developed well over the last two and a half seasons," Dyche said.
Burnley are 12th in the league after winning promotion last season and Dyche said he was pleased that Keane's fellow professionals, acknowledged the performances of a player from outside the elite clubs.
“We aren’t the shining lights of the Premier League, one of the superpowers. For other players to see that he has been terrific in a smaller club, it is good of his peers to recognise that, and he is in some very, very good company with some players who are having fine seasons,” added the Burnley boss.
On Saturday, the Clarets travel to Everton, one of the clubs that have been linked with Keane.
(Reporting by Simon Evans; Editing by Alison Williams)