MICHAEL Keane admits he is ‘gutted’ that he has missed out on starting games for Manchester United while he has been waiting for his chance with Burnley.

The 21-year-old signed for the Clarets on loan on September 1 but he had to wait until Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Aston Villa for his first start, having played just 20 minutes before then across two substitute appearances.

MORE TOP STORIES:

While he has been kicking his heels in East Lancashire Manchester United have suffered a defensive injury crisis that has led to Keane’s fellow youth team graduates Tyler Blackett and Paddy McNair featuring regularly under Louis van Gaal.

“I know I would have got games there but it’s just one of those things,” Keane said after making his first start for Burnley “I’m obviously gutted about that but I have to just focus on what I am doing at Burnley.

“While I am disappointed the main thing for me is to play games, I would have been doing that at United but there was nothing I could do to get back there so the second best thing is to be playing here.”

Keane has had to wait for his chance with Jason Shackell and Michael Duff starting every league game together until Duff missed out at the weekend with a calf injury.

That allowed the England Under-21 international to step up into the team, and he was pleased with how he performed.

“I thought I did well, but there’s still room for me to improve and hopefully I can get a chance to build on that,” he said.

“I feel like I’m ready for this level of football, I’ve been preparing for it for years now and I feel like I’m ready to take my chance.

“I feel I’ve done my stint in the Championship and I’ve done well there, so I was ready to step up and test myself at this level.”

Keane admitted it had been difficult watching from the sidelines since the start of September, but having finally got his chance he wants to retain his place in the side.

“It has been frustrating,” he said. “But the lads have been doing really well in the last couple of weeks and I knew I wouldn’t get in the team when they were winning so I just had to keep training and hope for my chance.”

His next opportunity to impress could come against Newcastle tomorrow at Turf Moor, and Keane believes the fact that the Clarets came from behind to secure a point against Villa will help going into that game.

“I think we’ve got take heart from the fact we came back from 1-0 down and we put so much pressure on them,” he said. “But we said in the changing room that we are disappointed not to win that game and we will take that feeling into the game tomorrow.

“All the lads would have been really down had we lost, and while we’re disappointed there are still a lot of positives to take from the performance.”

While Keane may have been forced to wait for his first start, and also his first appearance at Turf Moor, he has seen enough to know that the club he calls his temporary home is going in the right direction.

“The club is smaller on every scale to United, no disrespect, but it’s still a great club, it’s got a great family feel to it, a great set of lads and everyone gets on really well,” he said.

“As soon as you come through the door you know what you are expected to do and this club is going places, I’m really enjoying it.”