STEVE Cotterill plans to wave Gary Cahill back to Aston Villa in the summer with the message: Go and become a Premiership star.

Rookie defender Cahill, 19, has been a revelation at Turf Moor since making his senior debut just three months ago.

The loan signing was thrown straight into the deep end of Steve Cotterill's small player pool to see if he could sink or swim.

Since then, Cahill has hardly had time to come up for air, making 16 starts in 17 games in a breathless start to his career as a professional.

And after failing in his cheeky attempt to permanently prise the England U20 international from Villa's grasp, Cotterill is convinced Cahill can make waves in the shark infested waters of the Premiership.

The Burnley boss said: "Gary would be a good acquisition to any squad, but as we see it he came here initially for a month, then until the end of the season and then he will be going back to Villa.

"We have obviously had conversations with Villa, but this has been part of his education and he is going back in the summer to try to get into their first team.

"We have just been pleased to see him do a great job and pleased we have been quite helpful in his education. Hopefully he can go back, nail down a place in their first team and do well for them."

Cotterill admits he would have liked to ease Cahill into his senior career more gently. But with John McGreal currently nursing a back injury and Frank Sinclair's latest hamstring injury likely to sideline him for Burnley's gruelling run of four games in nine days, starting at Derby County tonight (7.45pm KO), that means Cahill will once again be denied a well-earned break.

Cotterill added: "Ideally, I would like to play him for three or four games and then leave him out for one or two. That would give him the break I feel he needs because there have been times when he has come in with a cold and looking tired. He's only a kid and we forget that because of his size and stature."

Meanwhile, Cotterill admits he would love to mirror Blackburn Rovers' preparations for next week's FA Cup fifth round replay by whisking his entire squad away to Dubai for five days.

But after postponing a mini-break to Spain earlier this year because of cup commitments, he vowed to reward his players once their punishing schedule finally shows signs of slowing down.

Cotterill revealed: "I am envious about Blackburn going to Dubai, but I suppose we've become a victim of our own success in the cups. We are in quite good form and we are just a little bit tired and could do with a break, but we don't have the chance of that at the moment.

"We can't cope with four games in nine days. We've almost got Christmas in the next week or so and all I could do was give my lads a lie in bed yesterday.

"But before the end to the season we are trying to find that spot where we can take our players away because they have more than warranted a break."