CHRIS McCann is set for talks about a contract extension, after Burnley manager Brian Laws made securing the midfielder on a new deal one of his pre-season priorities.

The Clarets boss is still busy trying to bring in new faces before the start of the season on August 7, but has not lost sight of the importance of retaining one of the club’s key players.

McCann, whose debut Premier League season was devastated by two separate knee injuries, is in the final year of his current contract.

But Laws hopes the Dubliner, who rose through the club’s youth ranks, will soon hand the squad a major boost as they plot another promotion path and commit his immediate future to the newly-relegated Clarets.

“Once we get pre-season (training) out of the way that’s the first thing we’re going to be doing.

“Chris knows that and I’ve spoken to him about it. Even at the end of last season we said we’d be looking to address his contract situation because we want him here for the long term.

“He’ll be a great asset to this football club so we’re not going to mess around with that.

"We’re going to get straight into it as quickly as we possibly can because we want to keep him.”

Burnley’s Premier League campaign was only six games old when McCann suffered medial ligament damage.

His return, at Bolton in January, was cut devastatingly short by a separate knee problem, which ultimately required surgery and ruled him out for the rest of the season.

But Laws revealed McCann had scrapped his holiday plans to concentrate on getting back to full fitness for the start of the new season.

“Chris is like a new signing,” said the Burnley boss.

“I know he is a good player, there’s no question about it, even though I didn’t really see him last year.

“He is fully fit and raring to go, he looks in really good nick.

“He hasn’t had a break because he’s actually been working over the summer so he should be super fit.

“He’ll probably try to do too much because he’ll want to make up for lost time, so we’ve got to be very careful that he’s here for the long term.

“We have to make sure he’s fully fit for the start of the season because, let me tell you, with him in the side I can see us being a very strong force.”

Laws added: “I think he’ll be itching to get back in (to the team) and get us back into the Premier League and have a taste of it.

.“He’ll be disappointed because last season didn’t happen how he would have liked. I know he would have been a real strong player for us last season, but time’s a great healer and he’ll get over that.

“What I can see from him is a driven ambition to play in the highest league and he’ll want to take Burnley back to that league so he can play there.”