Burnley boss Sean Dyche linked with Premier League rivals

The speculation suggest Palace and Villa are keeping tabs on Dyche’s situation, following chairman Mike Garlick’s comments recently, that the club could face a £50m shortfall if the current season is not completed amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a subsequent interview, Garlick also suggested the club - who have announced they will continue to pay casual staff, and have made facilities available to the NHS - could run out of money by August should the current situation not be resolved.

That led to exaggerated reports that Burnley could ‘go bust’, which Garlick himself laughed off: "I personally don't think it is going to come to that, I think we will start when it is safe of course, we need to start and people want to see football again because it is a game everyone loves.

"If for whatever reason we didn't then we have got some reserves at the club, we will get through it, I am comfortable we will get through it.”

However, this morning’s suggestion is that ‘alarming reports about the club running low on funds has sparked chatter’.

Villa, under Dean Smith, are currently in the bottom three and unsure as to their immediate future, while Palace, under Roy Hodgson, are currently a place behind Burnley, in 11th, on the same points.

Dyche himself spoke this week about the reports of Burnley ‘going bust’, saying: “We are in a different shape ourselves to a lot of Premier League clubs in the sense it's been run very, very balanced financially over a number of years now, so we have got a strong situation financially, so therefore we can take more time with decisions being made from the chairman.

"I think the simple thing is, everyone had a very quick reaction to what was said, and everyone came quickly on top of football, and I think he said this could be the worst case situation.

"Since then he has retracted a few bits of the things he'd said, I think everyone had that kneejerk reaction to that situation, and when you look at the facts and figures, we are in a very healthy financial position, the chairman wanted to do the right thing by not furloughing and looking at people still in place, looking after them.”

Three years ago, Palace were keen on Dyche as a replacement for Sam Allardyce, but opted to appoint Frank de Boer, who lasted four games, the last of which was a 1-0 defeat at Turf Moor, before bringing in Hodgson.