I HOPE Burnley manage to hang on to Michael Keane, his partnership with Ben Mee was fantastic in the second half of the season and it could be crucial in the Premier League.

Although it’s a big offer I think it’s more important that Burnley hang on to the player. You can tell he is highly-rated at Burnley and he’s still young for a defender, he’s getting better and better.

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Personally I hope, and think, he will stay. He will want to continue playing first-team football at this stage of his development, rather than risk sitting on the bench for Leicester City for a lot of the season.

Losing him now would be a big blow, it would leave a big hole to fill in the defence with pre-season training starting next week. I wouldn’t want to split that partnership with Mee up at this stage.

One player I hope does make the move to Turf Moor is Oliver Norwood, who has been fantastic for my beloved Northern Ireland in Euro 2016.

I rate the lad very highly, I think he’s an excellent midfielder and he would be a very good fit for this team in an area that needs strengthening.

It was sad to see Norwood and Northern Ireland go out of the European Championships on Saturday, especially for the thousands of fans who have given the team fantastic backing in France.

The Green and White Army roared the team on from the first minute in this tournament and they did so again on Saturday.

I thought Northern Ireland had edged the game and it looked to be drifting towards extra time and penalties before Gareth Bale put that great cross in and Gareth McAuley turned it into his own net. Michael O’Neill said we had the better of the game and I totally agree with him, we were the most dangerous side in the first half and had a couple of chances.

I know how those players felt, it reminded me of a game we lost to Switzerland in 1965 in a play-off.

Had we won that we would have qualified for the 1966 World Cup in England.

It was heartbreaking to lose that game.

Although it was 51 years ago I can still feel the hurt even now when I talk about it.

Although I was sad to see Northern Ireland lose at least Sam Vokes continues to represent Burnley in the tournament and it was great to see him starting again.

It’s a great achievement for Wales to get into the quarter-finals and I’ll be backing Sam 100 per cent now and I hope he continues to have success in France.

Stephen Ward crashed out of the tournament with the Republic of Ireland but it’s great to see Burnley players still at the tournament at this stage, it’s fantastic for the club and for the players themselves.