MICHAEL Keane’s best attribute is ‘in his head’, according to former Clarets defender Michael Duff.

The two men played alongside each other in the centre of Burnley’s defence before Duff hung up his boots at the end of the 2015-16 season to take a coaching role with the club’s under-18s.

He has watched on this term as Keane has gone from strength to strength, winning the players’ player of the year award at Turf Moor, earning two England caps and being linked with top Premier League clubs.

But Duff said the 24-year-old had remained grounded and would continue to progress wherever he plays his football next season thanks to his strength of character.

“Keano deserves everything he gets because he’s a good player but he’s a good character as well. His best attribute is in his head,” said Duff. “He’s quite humble. He doesn’t get carried away with anything.

“He’s had speculation all season, he’s had an England debut, he’s getting linked with the biggest clubs in the country and it hasn’t affected him.

“He’s not developed a swagger, he still runs as hard as everyone else in training and does all the right things. That’s the sign of a good character who will continue to progress.”

Keane initially made the move from Manchester United to the Clarets on loan at the start of the 2014/15 season, before making that move permanent six months later.

He had made just one Premier League appearance for the Red Devils but his form at Burnley has seen him linked with a return to Old Trafford, and Duff believes Keane’s desire to continually learn and improve has laid the foundations for that possibility.

“He came from Man Utd and he didn’t have a chip on his shoulder, and some of them to do,” the 39-year-old said who made 383 appearances for Burnley

“They think ‘I should still be at Man Utd’. But he’s gone out, worked hard, improved and he might still have a chance of going back there, who knows.

“He’s continually wanting to learn. He did that when he came in, he didn’t get in the team to start with but he would work hard and he would ask questions.

“Towards the end when I knew I was retiring I tried to give him as much as information as I knew because people did that for me when I was young. It’s the way it works, you’re a young player you learn and if you’re an old player you pass it on.

“There’s things I could teach him he probably never had at Man Utd. You don’t need to learn to head people in the back of the head there. He learnt, he wanted to stay out all the time.”

Duff praised Keane for embracing the culture set at Turf Moor by boss Sean Dyche from the moment he arrived at the club, and if Keane does move on this summer he believes there will be a recognition than his three years at Burnley have been good for both parties.

“He could be thinking ‘what am I doing here? I don’t want to be here, I’m on loan and I want to be an Man Utd’. But he didn’t,” Duff said.

“He’ll have nothing but positive things to say for the club, it was good for each other. He was technically a reject from Man Utd, not good enough as a kid, now he’s an England international.

“He’s done some development but it works both ways. We’ve been good for him and he’s been good for us.”