Kevin McDonald’s future is at Burnley FC

But Burnley boss Brian Laws insists his future lies at Turf Moor, and he is determined to help the Scotland Under 21 international fulfil his potential.

The 21-year-old has only made one appearance for the club so far this season, coming off the bench to score in the 3-1 Carling Cup win at Morecambe.

However, he has struggled to even make the 18-man matchday squad in the Championship, and Laws is eager for him to get some first team football under his belt, at as high a level as possible.

The former Dundee man could even move to a Championship rival for an initial month, and Laws said: “We’ve had one or two enquiries, but nobody has really stepped forward just yet, and I think the international break has put everybody on the backburner.

“I expect some movement maybe next week, once this weekend gets out of the way, and then clubs will start to look to bring in players, because they don’t want to pay their wages if there’s no games being played.

“As every player who’s not in the side, he wants to play, and it’s important, as we experienced with our centre halves who came off the bench last week, you can’t simulate gameplay in training, and match fitness is the key.

“You can do extra training, but it’s never enough, because it’s not a situation where it means something.

“There’s more pressure in games, and that’s why you get fatigue, so Kevin will come into that equation.

“He needs to play games, because if he gets called upon, he needs to be ready.

“To keep him ticking over, he’s got to be playing competitive games, and it’s ideal for him to go out on loan.”

But Laws is aware of McDonald’s ability, and is eager to utilise that at Burnley.

A loan is by no means the end of the road for the midfielder at Turf Moor, and he said: “It’s down to Kevin.”We all recognise what a talented player he is, he’s got all the tools in the box, he just sometimes doesn’t know the combination to get the tools out.

“It will click with him one day, and he’ll be a fabulous player.

“At the moment, we’re only seeing fragments of that, where he can be outstanding, but there’s a lot of parts of his game that he needs to improve on, and he knows that.

“We’ve talked about that, but the one thing he’s got is time on his side.

“He’s a young player, and if he gets his development right, there’s a player to be had, and we want him at Burnley Football Club.

“But he’s got to decide his future, it’s down to him.

“Let’s readdress it, if he goes out on loan, when he comes back, and have a look at it and see where we are before making any decisions about his career.”

Reading have been linked with McDonald, but Laws is wary of sending him out to a promotion rival, although he would prefer him to be playing in the Championship, rather than the Scottish Premier League: “Kevin’s a talented player and we’re mindful of where we feel he should be plying his trade.

“We want him to get games, but the quality of games have to be good, and the team ethos and how they play is important.

“That reduces the options, but he’s good enough for the Championship, and that’s maybe the area we should be looking at, although we don’t want to help our compertitors.

“North of the border, the problem is there’s only an opportunity for a minimum three-month loan, and I couldn’t recall him, so I’ll keep him in England if possible.”