BEN Mee has heaped praise on the attitude of his centre of defence partner James Tarkowski.

The England international was the subject of speculation about a move to Leicester City over the summer as the Foxes were looking at a replacement for Harry Maguire after his switch to Manchester United.

Tarkowski stayed put and helped the Clarets to a clean sheet in their 3-0 win over Southampton on the opening day of the season.

"Tarky has been part of our group and it epitomises our group, he’s happy and he’s happy with the lads and doing what he does," said the new skipper Mee.

"Yes, he showed that on Saturday – he was more than willing to put himself about and play for our team which is all you can ask.

"Obviously, we’ve done well over the last couple of seasons and long may that continue.

"He can be here, and we can build this partnership even stronger."

Tarkowski has two England caps to his name, but has missed out on Gareth Southgate's last couple of squads - Mee hopes to see him included soon.

"I hope so, I hope they can look at him and see what he can do, and he can get back in there," he said.

"I know he was disappointed not to be in there the last couple of times, so hopefully he can get back in there and after a few good performances I’m sure he will."

Brendan Rodgers looked at Tarkowski as a possible Harry Maguire replacement, but Leicester would have had to part with a big chunk of the £80 million they received from Manchester United to sign the Burnley centre half.

Mee didn't want his partner to leave, but admits anything can happen in football.

"You obviously don't want to lose your best players. We've created a good partnership over the last couple of years.

"You want to do well as a club and the way to do that is to keep hold of your top players. You don't want them to leave, but you've got to prepare yourself for anything in football.

"There was a lot of speculation when Maguire went to Manchester United that Leicester were in for Tarky, but, credit to the club, we've kept hold of him and hopefully he'll have a really good season for us and we'll keep working well together.

"We're in a really good place financially as a club and we're not under any pressure to sell any players so that can only bode well for us."

Mee and Tarkowski will come up against Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang tomorrow, Mee is well aware of the threat Arsenal carry.

"He was one of the top scorers last year, so you know he’s a top striker," said Mee.

"They’ve got Lacazette, the new boy and some young lads as well that are up and coming and looking like good players.

"There’s a big threat there from a lot of players, like I said, it’s one we’ll have to deal with but that’s why we play against these big teams and challenge ourselves against these top players."