Burnley's Taylor Harwood-Bellis — who spent time on loan with Rovers — is the best defender Jordan Beyer has had the pleasure of partnering

The German Under 21 international waxed lyrical about his Turf Moor team-mate on the eve of the East Lancashire derby.

The pair have made 18 starts together in the Championship this season and have kept 10 clean sheets in those fixtures.

Harwood-Bellis signed on a season-long loan from Manchester City and has just one year remaining on his current deal at the Etihad.

"In my opinion he is the best I've ever played alongside," said Beyer. "For his age I've never seen anything like it, so it's really unbelievable.

"He's the captain of the [England] Under 21s and, I don't want to sound like a fan, but he has been incredible.

"I could go on, day after day, talking about how good he is on the pitch, but off the pitch he's a great person as well. He's great to spend time with, great at the training ground with everybody, I only have positive words."

He added: “I can’t rate him high enough. He’s been for me extraordinary. When I came here I said it already, I think he must be like 26 or 27 because the way he plays, I thought there’s no chance he’s any younger than that. Then I looked on the team-sheet the first time and saw he is born in 2002 and he’s two years younger than me, I thought that can’t be real!

“He’s just been outstanding this season, I think for his age and his abilities, he’s going to go places, and aside from that, he’s a great person and a huge character and next to the football pitch he’s just incredible and it’s really nice to be around him. He’s a funny guy so I only have good words for him.”

Harwood Bellis, the Young Lions skipper, returns to familiar surroundings tonight as the Clarets head to Ewood Park.

The 21-year-old made 19 appearances for Blackburn Rovers in the second tier at the back end of the 2020-21 campaign.

And Beyer feels he's getting back to his best in time to face his former club, after enduring almost three months out with injury.

"It's very important that we've had the time on the pitch to form a partnership," he said. "He's been very unfortunate to get injured in January against Bournemouth, but he's working very hard to get back to top form.

"I think he's really close to getting back to that level again, but it's obviously pretty hard when you haven't played for three months to get back there.

"There's no doubt that he'll be there very soon, he's shown how important he is for the team. I have no doubt that we'll get back to our strong partnership."