SCOTT Arfield believes he will look back on his time at Burnley as the best days of his career.

The Scot signed off at Turf Moor on Sunday, ending a five-year association with the club that has been hugely beneficial to both parties.

Burnley beat off competition from Southend and MK Dons to sign Arfield on a free transfer from Huddersfield and the 29-year-old has resurrected his career with the Clarets, helping them to two promotions from the Championship and now seventh place in the Premier League.

"I don’t think anybody could have envisaged how well it would go," said Arfield, who described his send off against Bournemouth as 'emotional'.

"I’ve been incredibly lucky to be a pivotal part of the rise of this club, where it has come from and where it is going to go.

"In years to come I’ll look back on this as the happiest time of my career."

Arfield was one of Sean Dyche's first permanent signings when he arrived on a free transfer in the summer of 2013. He immediately proved his worth, scoring nine of his 22 Burnley goals in the first promotion season.

It is a move that has worked out well for both parties, with Arfield moving to Rangers after 194 games for the Clarets.

“When you look back at that time and then coming to here, you could never imagine where this club has gone and where my career has gone," he said.

“I think the club has been better to me than I’ve been to the club, but I still feel as if I’ve given a lot to the club over the years.

“I’ve got a great relationship with the fans as well and I think that showed on Sunday."

Many of Arfield's goals have been memorable and he picked out three as personal highlights, the Clarets' first in the Premier League under Dyche, his derby-winning strike at Ewood Park and his goal at Anfield earlier this season.

But it's the second promotion season that the Canadian international believes was his happiest at the club, as Burnley clinched the Championship title with a 23-game unbeaten run.

Asked for his highlights, he said: "Loads, to be honest. The Chelsea goal, Blackburn goal, Liverpool goal, there’s loads to look at.

"The happiest I’ve probably been is the promotion season the second time we did it, when we won the league. The first time we went up second it was more of a bonus.

"The second one, to handle the expectation, I got back in the house after that game and I just felt so much more satisfied than the first one, so looking back I think that was the perfect one."

Although he has now departed Turf Moor, Arfield admits Burnley will forever hold a special place in his heart.

"Of course, and it's not just me," he said. "My family have been buzzing to get down to games for the past five years. I've disappointed them so many times because I couldn't get them enough tickets.

"It shows you how much this club not only means to me but my internal and external family as well, my mates who come down to watch on a regular basis, it costs them a lot of money to come down from Scotland.

"They do it because of how much they love this club and how good it has been to everybody."

Arfield leaves the Clarets as they qualify for Europe for the first time in 51 years, but he insists the journey for Burnley might not be over just yet.

“I think it can go further," he said. "It’s going to be hard to get in there. City have ran away with this league since Christmas, the big six have got financial backing but they’re not as far away as they seem I don’t think.

“You look at Leicester winning the league a couple of years, Burnley getting into Europe, there’s a success story every year and you never know where that is going to go."