Burnley boss Scott Parker on the potential for high-profile departures and James Trafford's future

Despite this week’s departures of Samuel Bastien, Dara Costelloe and Darko Churlinov, Parker still has a hugely bloated squad at his disposal.

This week the Clarets released their shirt numbers ahead of the new season and in total numbers were distributed to 37 players.

With the club only permitted to name 25 ‘senior’ players in the Championship, further departures will have to be sanctioned.

When asked if that will be the case, Parker said: “Yeah probably, I think that’s fair to say.

“We do have a big squad but at this moment in time, when a new manager comes in, every player has that opportunity to impress.

“There are some players that have departed, ones who probably needed to go and play some football and that could be the case moving forward as well.

“Currently, every player here we’re managing and they’ve all got an opportunity to impress myself and fight to get into that team and do a job for themselves.”

While the likes of Bastien and Churlinov were players on the fringes of the Burnley squad, supporters might be fearing that future exits might feature more senior, high-profile names.

While much of that remains up in the air, Parker concedes he can’t rule it out.

“I’m not sure really. I can’t sit here and say no, definitely not,” he added.

“Like any club that’s been relegated, there are a lot of dynamics and components. One being players and whether they want to be around and the other element is club wise, what we may need to do or what me may not need to do.

“We’ll have to see how that pans out in the coming weeks.”

With the club bringing in two new goalkeepers in Vaclav Hladky and Etienne Green, that’s only increased speculation that James Trafford could be on his way this summer.

Responding to that assertion, Parker concluded: “We’ve also lost two keepers [Arijanet Muric and Lawrence Vigouroux], so it was certainly a position we needed to cover. That’s the reason behind it.

“James Trafford is a fantastic keeper, one I admire immensely. So like always, I’m looking forward to working with him.”