Ben Mee on Man City, Liverpool and finding a home at Burnley

Exclusive interview: The centre-back's journey has taken him from City under-18s captain to the Championship to the edge of the England team - and he doesn't regret a single second

When Ben Mee was 20 years old he was in Manchester City’s first team squad. Having trained all week with Vincent Kompany, Patrick Vieira, Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero, “the way he shifted the ball and shoots – the way he still does it…” he would travel to away games and that is where the thrill was replaced by impatience.

Mee would play for City in a 2-1 League Cup defeat at West Bromwich Albion but that was it. He had offers to go on loan to a range of League One clubs but decided to stay put for a year because he did not believe he was ready for the physical challenge that awaited him. “If I went there and struggled, where would it leave me?”

Leicester were a Championship club when, in 2011, they offered him a way out.

“My game benefited so much from being away from my comfort zone,” he reflected. “Playing in front of big crowds where you feel the value of three points, you have to learn fast. The buzz of a win was greater than it was in the reserves at City or at youth level. You know you’ve sent people home happy. The experience made me want more of it.”

A return to the Championship came with another loan spell at Burnley, the club where he is now the longest serving player. After Sunday’s fixture with Liverpool, he will be three games short of his 300th appearance.

He would add another layer to the discussion this week about the trend of young British footballers developing abroad, pointing out that the Championship in 2019 is different to the Championship he first entered.

“The landscape has shifted,” he said. “Clubs have become more ambitious. Whereas when I played there, maybe six or seven believed they could go up, now the majority think they have a chance. There’s a lot of big clubs in the Championship now and all of the ones that have been in the Premier League before are desperate to get back. They’re spending a lot of money on transfer fees and paying a lot of money on wages. They know there’s a big prize at the end of it. Will young loan players get many chances? Will managers who are under pressure to get promoted risk using a young lad who ultimately is owned by someone else?

“I think a lot of the foreign clubs are realising there’s a gap they can exploit because players know they are good enough for the Championship and it’s a level that might suit them but the opportunities aren’t there. It’s good there are people out there across Europe recognising there’s talent here.”

Listening to Mee speak about the pride of his own achievements reminded that it is easy to forget what he has been a major part of at Burnley: the unlikely promotion – despite the odds being against them as the wealth of the Championship grew; the recovery from relegation with another promotion – albeit by summoning the fortitude to win the title this time; a seventh-place finish and European football.

“It shouldn’t necessarily happen here but it has,” he reflected “because of sheer will and vision.” In the void left behind by Stoke City, Burnley became “the gritty British-type team that other teams thought, ‘Bloody ‘ell – you’ve got to be careful around them.’”

There can be few more bucolic football settings than Gawthorpe Hall, the Elizabethan manor which runs beside the River Calder and north east towards through a valley towards Pendle Hill. The story of Burnley’s emergence was illustrated, though, behind Mee as he looked out of the window at the club’s training ground in Padiham: the facility called Barnfield, which surely rivals any of those built elsewhere on the Premier League map, other than the club he left behind eight years ago.

Mee started his career at Manchester City (Getty Images)

Mee had been Manchester City’s under-18s captain, lifting the Youth Cup just a few months before the club’s then press officer called staff on their off-day to ask them to come in – City had become the richest club in the world over night.

Immediately, this changed the challenge in front of Mee. “City wanted success quickly. To put a young lad in the back four would be quite a difficult thing to do. I can’t complain. I feel like I’ve had a good career up to this point and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The promotions [at Burnley] were amazing experiences. I understood how it was going [at City], and the direction the club wanted to take. It was going at a rate which nobody had ever seen before. For me to stay on that path was a bit too soon for me to be honest with you. The club was moving too fast for me to jump on board and be involved in the first team.”

Mee and his immediate family remain City supporters but that feeling for him has drifted having spent so much time at Burnley. The only significance from Anfield is what the outcome might mean for Burnley, who are four points above the relegation zone. Liverpool have not scored in three of their last four games, though they were against Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Everton – and they did score five against Watford. That result reminds Mee of Liverpool’s capabilities when their attack clicks. It was 1-1 at Turf Moor when Jurgen Klopp introduced Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino as substitutes and within three minutes, Firmino had tipped the balance in Liverpool’s favour, enabling them to eventually win 3-1.

“What sets them apart – I think – is their workrate,” Mee said of Liverpool’s front three. “They’re honest players. They do the ugly side: winning the ball back, chasing, harrying, pressing. That’s been a big change in the Premier League. The top front players are working a lot harder. You’re under pressure all of the time as a defender. And then, they’ve got the quality to back it up.’

Mee is a big fan of Virgil van Dijk, whose performance at Goodison Park last Sunday fell in the “colossus” category. Impressive at the other end, though, was Michael Keane, who, in fairness, was up against a higher quality opponent than van Dijk.

Keane, of course, had been one of two defensive partners whose path has benefited from the calming influence of Mee, regarded at Burnley as the more consistent but understated performer who might not catch the headlines or interest like those alongside him simply because he is a bit older. While Keane represented England and has since earned a move to Everton, James Tarkowski is now an international that other clubs would like to sign.

Mee’s aim had been to become a Premier League footballer and then play for his country. At 29, he acknowledges that the latter might be beyond him. “Before the World Cup last year, I was playing well – probably my best season – and I thought there might be a chance,” he said. “But I can’t complain, I love it at Burnley. If someone would have told me that the club would take on this journey when it was first suggested that I came here on loan, I would have asked, ‘Where do I sign?’”