BURNLEY loanee Nathaniel Chalobah is loving working with England Under 21 colleague Danny Ings as they prepare to face Portugal on home soil on Thursday.

Both are in Gareth Southgate’s U21 side, along with Michael Keane, for the fixture at Turf Moor this week.

Chalobah joined the Clarets on loan from Chelsea on September 1, and at the time admitted knowing Keane and Ings from Southgate’s set-up helped make the move easier.

And he has been impressed with what he has seen from Ings since making the move to East Lancashire.

“Danny’s got it all,” said 19-year-old Chalobah, “he’s got a resilience about him and he’s got this hunger for goals and he sees things early.

“He never lets things get in his head and he’s got quality as well, so both sides and that’s what you look for really, he’s always looking to improve, Danny’s really good and I’ve got a lot of respect for him.

“I’m working with them every week and I’ve known Michael for a while, so we’ve got that relationship anyway, so it’s good on that side of things.”

Chalobah will be hoping to win his 20th cap for the Young Lions on Thursday, despite his tender age, and he is hoping the locals will be out in force to see three of their own perform alongside some of the country’s finest young talent.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “We’re looking good at the minute, we got through our qualification well, put in some good performances so we’re looking forward to kicking on.

“The fans are sublime round here, so I’m not really doubting what it’s going to be like, it’s going to be a turnout.”

Portugal cruised through their qualification campaign for next summer’s European Championships in the Czech Republic, and Sierra Leone-born Chalobah is expecting a tough test from a talented team.

“They’re a good side and they will put out a good team and we’ll look to do that as well,” he added, “just focus on ourselves and see what we can do in the game.”

Chalobah also praised the work done by Southgate in bringing the U21s together on and off the pitch.

“The spirit is good, it’s positive,” he said, “the manager keeps us positive all the time as do his staff and his assistants, it’s a good vibe, all the lads get on really well. We know there is a lot of responsibility on us and we just want to do well.

“He’s (Southgate) good on the technical side of it, but as well as that on the physical side of things, he knows both parts of the game really well and he wants that from us as a team and we’ve been doing that during the qualification.”