McCann set for new deal

That debut came at the start of his second season as an apprentice but by December he'd penned his first full time contract and eventually signed a long term deal until the end of the 2009/10 season.

Still just 21, he's now played 140 league games for Burnley and is much rated by manager Owen Coyle who more than once has said that Chris is a Premier League quality midfielder.

Now it looks as though Coyle is ready to try and tie him down to Burnley with a four year deal that will see McCann remain at Turf Moor, like the manager, until the end of the 2012/13 season.

There are suggestions that Martin O'Neill would be interested in taking him to Aston Villa, but with Burnley no longer under any pressure to sell players we'll do all we can to extend McCann's Turf Moor stay.

He's one of a number of players who will be going into the last year of their contracts meaning we have a lot of work to do with them as well as strengthening the squad. McCann is alongside Christian Kalvenes, Michael Duff, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Joey Gudjonsson, Brian Jensen, Jay Rodriguez, Robbie Blake, Bes Berisha, Stephen Jordan and Steven Thompson with one year remaining on their existing deals.