DWIGHT MAN, WRONG TEAM
Dyche stunned England radar has not picked up his star
BURNLEY boss Sean Dyche reckons winger Dwight Mcneil is good enough for England.
Mcneil, 20, has enjoyed such a meteoric rise over the past 18 months that the Clarets manager could not believe it when Aidy Boothroyd called last week to tell him the dashing left-winger had been put on stand-by for an Under-21 call-up.
Dyche says it should have been Gareth Southgate on the blower – and that the former Manchester United trainee did enough last season to earn a PFA Young Player of the Year nomination.
Dyche, who isn’t one for hyping his players, said: “When I spoke to Aidy Boothroyd and he told me Dwight was on stand-by I honestly thought he was talking on behalf of Gareth Southgate.
“When Aidy told me he was calling about the Under-21s I was amazed because we were talking about someone who played just about every minute for a Premier League side for the last season-and-a-half.
“There must be some blooming good players in this country if Dwight Mcneil can’t get into the Under-21s. This is a player who made a big difference for a team that finished 10th last season.
Shocked
“I was shocked when Dwight didn’t make the list for Young Player of the Year. Maybe I am biased, but I see him every day and I think Dwight is a top player.
“It isn’t like he could have gone under the radar because he has played in the Premier League for the past 18 months.
“Maybe if I was dipping him in and out of the team and he was coming on as a substitute and setting up or scoring the odd goal he would get more kudos.
“But how he cannot be considered as a young player of the year when he’s played every single game – it’s impossible in my view.
“I certainly recognise Dwight: he’s a good kid, he’s loving his football and he is a top player in my opinion. Hopefully he can only get better if he stays grounded, which I think he will.”
It has been a frustrating summer for Dyche ahead of his ninth season at Turf Moor. He was unhappy about chairman Mike Garlick’s refusal to award shortterm contracts to a raft of players when the season resumed after lockdown.
And after losing experienced trio Jeff
Hendrick, Joe Hart and Aaron Lennon, the Burnley boss doesn’t even know how much he has to spend on reinforcements with the transfer deadline less than a month away.
Dyche said: “I don’t know what my budget is, but that’s the way it has always been run here. It’s a fact of life that the chairman and the board have a tendency to take transfers right down to the wire.
“Buying players is tricky enough from start to finish. All I have asked for is some more guidelines so that I can target the players I want.”