DANNY Ings admits he will be sad to quit the Clarets, after crediting the club for making him “a man” in four years at Turf Moor.

The striker was just 18 when he arrived in a £1million move from AFC Bournemouth, came through two horror injuries in his first two years, and went on to fire the Clarets to the Premier League and top scored with 11 goals for the club in his debut top flight season.

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Now at the end of his contract, Ings is on the brink of move to one of the country’s top teams.

Liverpool are the favourites to sign the England Under-21 international following the UEFA European U21 Championship in the Czech Republic.

Burnley can expect to receive somewhere in the region of £4m-£5m in compensation under the Bosman ruling.

And while Ings is relishing the next chapter of his career, he insists it is with a heavy heart that he bids farewell to Burnley.

“It’s a sad time for me,” he said. “Burnley Football Club helped me mature from a boy to a man and I can’t thank them everyone from the club enough, from the board to the staff at the training ground and the staff at the club.

“It’s been a fantastic journey, so of course it would be upsetting for it to come to an end.

“But that’s football and it happens with every player. I thank everyone from the fans to the staff, everyone’s been fantastic.”

Ings received recognition at the club’s player of the year awards for ending the season as leading goalscorer, but he was the first to credit his team-mates.

“It is always a team game,” he said.

“I take a lot of pride on what I earn on a personal note but for me it all comes down to how the team are doing, because the better the team are doing around you the better you’re going to perform and last year especially was fantastic. Even this year, the performances have been unbelievable for a lot of players who hadn’t had the experience in the Premier League, including myself.

“We can be extremely proud of ourselves and how far this football club’s come in the last couple of years.”

Ings has been linked to a number of clubs on the continent, after flying to Spain earlier this year for talks with David Moyes at Real Sociedad, and in the Premier League - the strongest one being Liverpool.

But he says that beyond this week’s short break, and Euro 2015, he does not know what his future holds.

“My holiday’s the first thing on my mind. I’m looking forward to a bit of downtime and after that it’s going to be hard work again,” he said.

“It’s going to be a short summer for me this year, but I love football so I’d play it every day if I could.

“After that I’ll sit down with my agent. I’m not going to lie. I’ll sit down and discuss my future then.

“At the moment it’s all up in the air. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Ings was just pleased to sign off with a winning goal in his final game for the Clarets at Aston Villa.

“It was important that I went out there and enjoyed it because I think everyone knows that probably was my last performance in a Burnley shirt,” he said.

“It was great to get the winning goal and fantastic to get the win.

“I was an 18-year-old boy when I came here, now I’m 22 and I look like I’m 30!

“I’ve been working hard over the last four years to try to be the best I can be, and try to be the best I can be for Burnley Football Club.

“Everyone knows how much I love Burnley Football Club and that it will always be in my heart.”