Sean Dyche confident Dwight McNeil will ignore transfer talk

“He’s been here long enough to see that happen to other players, hopefully he’ll take it as one of those things,” Dyche said ahead of Monday’s trip to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

“He’s certainly in a balanced environment here, where I can’t see him running away with any outside noise, he seems to be quite steady and enjoying his football. That’s what I want him to do, play with a smile on his face and enjoy the challenge.”

Newcastle, Arsenal, Everton and Manchester City have all been linked with McNeil, but Dyche is not interested in putting a price on the player, whose contract runs until the summer of 2023.

“It’s a strange one, regarding his worth,” Dyche added. “I look at some of the figures bandied about for some of these young players, and I don’t know what you put on him. His worth to the team I’m more interested in, and that’s the way he’s delivering performances.

“I like his assuredness. He’s quiet, he’s calm, but there’s a toughness in there, particularly to have the ball. That’s something that can come and go with players, but he’s certainly got that desire to grip a game with the ball, ‘give me the ball, I want to do something’.

“That’s a powerful thing, particularly in a young player, because sometimes that’s hard, but he will have the ball under any circumstances, he wants the ball, to try and produce something.”

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