Burnley captain Ben Mee delighted to see club keep hold of defender James Tarkowski

The 29-year-old's back catalogue for the Clarets comprises of seven different partnerships at the heart of the defence.

Andre Bikey, Micheal Duff, David Edgar, Jason Shackell, Michael Keane, Kevin Long and James Tarkowski have all lined up alongside the former Manchester City centre half, who had been utilised as a full back during his loan spell.

Harry Maguire's record move from Leicester City to Manchester United in the summer, which made the England international the world's most expensive defender, had once again threatened the latest combination, with the Foxes reportedly keen on taking Tarkowski to the King Power Stadium.

However, the deadline passed without such disturbance to the squad and the pair went on to contribute to a clean sheet against Southampton on the opening weekend of the Premier League campaign.

The skipper said: “You never know what can happen. There was a lot of talk around Tarky and I said to him ‘I’m glad you’ve stayed’.

"There was a lot of speculation when Maguire went to Manchester United that Leicester were in for Tarky, but, credit to the club, we've kept hold of him and hopefully he'll have a really good season for us and we'll keep working well together.

"We're in a really good place financially as a club and we're not under any pressure to sell any players so that can only bode well for us.

"You obviously don't want to lose your best players. We've created a good partnership over the last couple of years.

"You want to do well as a club and the way to do that is to keep hold of your top players. You don't want them to leave, but you've got to prepare yourself for anything in football."

The defensive duo made 106 blocks between them in the Premier League last term as well as 467 clearances and 265 headed clearances.

And Mee is looking to build on that solidarity once again. "Obviously, we’ve done well over the last couple of seasons and long may that continue," he said. "He can be here, and we can build this partnership even stronger.

"Tarky has been part of our group and it epitomises our group, he’s happy and he’s happy with the lads and doing what he does.

"Yes, he showed that on Saturday – he was more than willing to put himself about and play for our team which is all you can ask.

“He’s focused on the club and had the attitude that what will be will be. He never once stepped out of line.

"You see other players in other clubs, you hear about something and they can go a little bit off the rails, and he’s stuck to it and trained really well and stuck with the group."