"I wouldn't be surprised" - Burnley FC backed to take CJ Egan-Riley action | OneFootball

FLW's Clarets fan pundit does not envisage Egan-Riley leaving the club at the end of his deal this season

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

FLW's Burnley fan pundit is not concerned about Clarets defender CJ Egan-Riley being out-of-contract at the end of this season, as it feels like a guarantee that the former Manchester City man will extend his deal at the club, regardless of if they win promotion to the Premier League.

Egan-Riley has been with Burnley since 2022, but has had to wait until this season to display his talents on a consistent basis at Turf Moor.

Despite being relatively inexperienced at 22-years-old, he has been a real standout at the back for Scott Parker so far this term in the Clarets' promotion push alongside the likes of Maxime Esteve, Bashir Humphreys and Connor Roberts.

The England youth international signed a three-year contract at the club when he first joined from City, so his deal is set to expire at the end of this campaign, but it certainly seems likely that he will remain at the club past this summer.

No concern over CJ Egan-Riley contract situation for Burnley fan pundit

Egan-Riley's first appearances for the Clarets came in the Championship in his first campaign at the club, but he was soon loaned out to Hibernian in January 2023, and went on to make 14 appearances in the Scottish Premiership.

He failed to play in the Premier League last season under Vincent Kompany, so was again loaned out in the winter window to PSV Eindhoven, but was surprisingly assigned to their under-21 side rather than the senior team.

The 22-year-old returned to Turf Moor in the summer with a new challenge to get himself into the team under boss Parker, and he has been a near mainstay in one of the most impressive Championship defences ever so far this term.

While he is nearing the end of his current Clarets deal, our Burnley fan pundit, Will Lancaster, is confident that Egan-Riley will stay at Turf Moor beyond this season, as he seems comfortable and is progressing well at the club right now.

“I wouldn’t be concerned about Egan-Riley being able to run his contract down, to be honest," Will told FLW.

“He’s been a great player for us this year, arguably our player of the season, most improved, whatever award you want to give him.

“But, I can’t see many teams in the Premier League giving him that game-time.

“Southampton, even, as a club who look like they could break Derby County’s lowest points record, they’ve still got Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who obviously was on loan at Burnley not too long ago, and he’s got an England cap and scored for England.

“If that is the sort of standard that you are getting right down the very bottom of the league, I’m not sure Egan-Riley is quite there just yet.

“I doubt we’ll sell him to Sunderland, Sheffield United or Leeds anytime soon, so I feel like he’s sort of at the perfect club for his abilities right now.

“I wouldn't be surprised in the future if he did get to a bottom-half Premier League level, but he’s not quite there at the minute, and he is only really going to stunt his development if he does move on.

“I’m not too concerned really. I do think he’ll sign a new contract, because even if we don’t go up and we challenge again next season, I feel like that would do him the world of good.

“You’ve seen how players can struggle going into the Premier League from the Championship. Harwood-Bellis is a perfect example, and some of our team last year just weren’t up to scratch, but they’ve come back down and really sorted that out.

“Josh Cullen and Josh Brownhill both weren’t exactly amazing last season, yet they’ve come down and smashed the Championship again so far.

“I feel like the right thing to do for Egan-Riley would definitely be to extend his contract at Turf Moor.”

Scott Parker wants Egan-Riley to stay at Burnley

The Clarets have been very impressive in defence this season, and Scott Parker has built his side's promotion challenge on being tough to break down at the back, which has worked brilliantly so far with Egan-Riley at the heart of their success.

Burnley have lost just two league games up to now, and have conceded only nine goals, which is the least of any side at this stage in the history of the Championship, a record stretching back to 2004.

Egan-Riley's brilliant performances week-in, week-out this term have certainly earned him a new contract, and boss Parker recently urged the club to get the deal done and tie him down for an extended period.

"It's important, I think that goes without saying. The trust I've put in CJ and the quality that he has, I think he's vital for us," he told the Burnley Express earlier this month.

"Hopefully we can get to a position where CJ feels that – and I'm sure he does, I'm sure he feels a commitment that we've given him as coaches.

"The situation is his situation, but hopefully we can sit around and try and get a contract sorted out for him.

"At the point you get an opportunity, you need to grab it and CJ's done that. He got an opportunity here and I decided to put him in...he's been first class.

"I saw the quality in CJ from the minute I walked in here, but there’s still loads and loads of areas he needs to work on. There's still loads and loads of areas he needs to develop."

As Parker has insinuated, it really is a no-brainer for Burnley to hand Egan-Riley a new contract before the end of this season, and it should be a long-term one too, given his pedigree, current talent and potential to get even better at just 22-years-old.