"?Burnley manager Sean Dyche has praised former player Joey Barton, but refused to answer whether he would be interested in having the midfielder back at Turf Moor.
Speaking on BBC 5 Live, and subsequently reported by the Mirror, the Clarets' boss said, "I've been asked that [Barton returning] a lot and I'm not going to answer you. Why should I? That's for another day."
Dyche went to explain his admiration for the well travelled player: "In my experience the reason for that was that I was very honest with him. We had three hours at my house before he agreed to come up to us.
"He was honest with me and I was honest with him and I think he liked that. I'm not suggesting that anybody is not honest with him. I just found that was a good platform to build from.
"Some of the stuff I told him would be in place, was in place and he got to the actual environment and probably thought you told me everything and it's actually happening right in front of my face.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche has not ruled out Joey Barton returning to the club.https://t.co/lA2fPoMUg7 pic.twitter.com/eG8YdLctGd
"I was asked recently about what has gone on up there and I said, 'look, I can only judge by what I felt, and that was absolutely top class.' The way he went about it, the way he was with the group. Very demanding still - when he has a question, he needs an answer.
"He was first class on the pitch by the way - people forget that. His conduct on the pitch: exemplary last season. I am telling you now, he was getting smashed all over the place. Sometimes it just fits: he fitted with us, we fitted with him."
All the very best for today @RangersFC
The controversial midfielder is currently on the books of Glasgow Rangers but was internally suspended by the club following some disciplinary problems, which has put into question Barton's future at Ibrox.
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