MICHAEL Keane believes Ben Mee could add to the competition for places among the central defenders in the England squad in the near future.

Burnley centre back Keane won his first Three Lions cap on Wednesday night in the friendly defeat to Germany and looks set to add to that on Sunday when England face Lithuania at Wembley in a World Cup qualifier.

But the 24-year-old knows it’s a tough battle for a starting spot with Chris Smalling, Ben Gibson and John Stones all in Gareth Southgate’s plans and Harry Maguire impressing at Hull.

“There’s a lot of good English centre-halves at the minute,” said Keane before departing for international duty.

“I don’t think you’ve got to look any further than Ben (Mee). There’s probably five or six young ones who haven’t got a cap yet.

“So while there’s competition with the experienced players there’s also the younger ones as well.

“In the next few years who knows who’s going to be a regular, so there’s a lot to play for.”

Since leaving Manchester United, where he made one Premier League appearance, Keane has made giant strides with the Clarets.

His start against Sunderland before the international break was his 50th Premier League appearance for Burnley and he has been in the last three England squads.

While he has won plenty of plaudits for his performances this season, so has Mee, who has played every minute of the top flight campaign alongside Keane.

Mee had to leave Manchester City to earn regular first-team football but he has now made 211 appearances for the Clarets and Keane believes he could be nudging his way closer to possible international recognition.

“I’m sure Ben will be knocking on the door, Harry Maguire will be knocking on it, it’s not going to be easy to get in the squad,” Keane said.

“But you can’t expect that playing for your country, especially when it’s someone like England.

“They have top players so you need to be playing well week in, week out.”

Keane is the second Burnley player to earn an England debut in less than a year after Tom Heaton’s first cap in May 2016.

And he is one of seven Clarets away on international duty this week, with Steven Defour and Johann Berg Gudmundsson also usually part of the Belgium and Iceland squads but missing out this week due to injury.

“It shows how far the club has come in the last few years,” Keane said. “There’s a lot of international players now, I’m sure the fans are proud of that and it’s great to be part of it.”