Dyche hails McNeil’s football intelligence after England call

Dwight McNeil
Dwight McNeil

Sean Dyche has praised Dwight McNeil’s football intelligence after his first official England call-up.

The Clarets wideman has been named in Paul Simpson’s Under 20s squad, after some suggestion he could even break into Aidy Boothroyd’s Under 21s.

The 19-year-old has started Burnley’s last 13 games, including 11-successive Premier League outings, and has claimed four assists and a goal in that time.

He has been likened on social media to a man well known to Dyche, Ashley Young - who played in the same Watford side for two years before joining Aston Villa in 2007 - in his “ability to shift the ball and pinch himself half a yard and whip in a cross”.

But Dyche said: “They’re different types, Youngy was more, well, in the early days, an out and out winger, lithe and quick, and Dwight is more a modern winger in a sense where he plays inside, outside, and he can drift into good positions.





The former Manchester United youngster is playing with a freedom at present that Dyche intends to encourage: “I think he continues to grow and make sense of it, it’s hard to explain when you’re young, but in a kind of free-flowing way, not over-thinking it, coming in training, doing the simple things well, getting himself prepared, and enjoying the challenge of it.

