New deal for young Burnley centre back Bobby Thomas

The 20-year-old has put pen to paper on fresh terms after impressing as part of the senior squad at Burnley.

Thomas, who made his debut in the Carabao Cup win at Millwall 12 months ago, had a spell on loan at League 2 Barrow last season, and returned to score the winner in pre-season at Blackpool.

And he said: “It's something you work towards since you are a young kid. To sign a long-term deal at an established Premier League side is a nice feeling.

“It’s an important step, that transition from coming out of the 23s, hopefully into a first-team environment, whenever that may be, which will be a nice reward for working hard and all the sacrifices.”

Thomas could go back out on loan in January, and enjoyed his time at Barrow, where he made 21 appearances.

“I really enjoyed my time there and felt like I learned loads,” he added.

“It kind of modelled me into a different player because I didn't really have the experience. I feel like I do now from just one loan.

“Even though it was for just half a season I really feel like I did learn and develop a lot.

“We just scraped staying up and I wouldn’t change it. We had really good team and it was really enjoyable.”

For now, he has been on the bench for the first-team squad and could also feature for the U23s in PL2: “It’s what you want. You are training with the first team near enough every day and you just feel yourself getting a bit sharper every day.

“It’s a nice group to be around to develop yourself on and off the pitch.

“I’ll be working hard in training and then the plan is first-team football, wherever that may be.

“Wherever I’m needed, wherever they want me to play is where I’ll be playing, whether that’s on loan or here.

“I just want to be playing first-team football at some point with three points on the line.”