Burnley FC swoop for Everton defender Shane Duffy

The 19-year-old has signed a loan deal to keep him at Turf Moor for an initial 28-day spell.

Clarets’ boss Eddie Howe swooped to beat Thursday’s emergency loan deadline to recruit the highly-rated centre-back to increase his defensive options for the final stages of the Championship play-off race.

Duffy joined Everton’s Academy as a 16-year-old and after progressing through the ranks made his first-team debut in a Europa League tie in December, 2009.

He made one further senior appearance for the Toffees in the competition later the same month and was named as Everton’s reserve team player of the year before suffering a life-threatening injury on international duty last May.

Having represented Northern Ireland up to under-21 and ‘B’ level, the County Derry born defender switched allegiance to the Republic of Ireland in February, 2010.

After being called into the Ireland squad for a training camp three months later, Duffy suffered a freak injury which saw him sever an artery near his liver and require life-saving surgery.

He has since fully recovered and after returning in pre-season at the start of the current campaign has been a regular for the reserves at Goodison Park and has featured on the bench eight times at first-team level for David Moyes’ side.

Duffy will link up with the Clarets next week after returning from international duty with the Republic of Ireland under-21 squad in Portugal.