Burnley boss Sean Dyche on the decision to allow five subs in the Premier League from next season

But he still believes it gives the elite clubs an advantage.

The Premier League yesterday released a statement, which read: "Clubs agreed to change the rules relating to substitute players.

"From next season, clubs will be permitted to use five substitutions, to be made on three occasions during a match, with an additional opportunity at half-time.

"A total of nine substitutes can be named on the team sheet.”

The likes of Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel have long advocated a return to five subs, which were permitted after Project Restart in June 2020, to ease the burden on players as they completed the last quarter of the season after a three-month break due to the pandemic.

Klopp, in particular, has referenced Burnley a number of times, feeling the super power clubs are affected more by a fixture pile-up: "You have to recover and rest every second you can do so. It is really tough for the boys, not just us but others as well. My first year the team had 63 games in 2015-16. No international games involved in that, just club.

"This year it will not be much less but it is tough. We have to think about how we can keep these world class players (fresh). Sorry to say but during the international break I don't know how many Burnley players on international duty, I don't know.

“That is the difference but we let other people make the decisions for the top class players. We have to do that (five subs). It is not for an advantage, it is a necessity."

Dyche was philosophical about the decision to relent and allow five subs, and said: "I've only shared a commonsensical view, nothing other, the big clubs are in lots of tournaments and I understand why they'd want five subs, definitely.

"I would if I was at those clubs, with many international players, mostly playing when called up.

"My point has always been for the smaller clubs like ourselves, it's a bigger challenge because teams can rotate so easily, there are a clutch of teams who could change five players at any given time and the team wouldn't look much weaker, if at all.

"So it just gives them a little more leeway.

"But I do understand it, I've said it all along, and if often gets misrepresented, but if I was at a big club with 20-odd internationals, I'd want to be able to use as many as I can, to rotate and keep them all happy, and give them more game time, because eventually players want to play.

"That's all.”

Dyche had said in December: "If you have a super power team with a bench that some of us are stunned by, then if you can put five of them on at any given point, you would suggest it makes that club stronger.

"After the pandemic initially we had a bench full of kids, we didn’t have any choice and we had to keep going and going. I keep hearing this term player welfare. I’ve got to be honest, I think the welfare of my players here is absolutely fantastic – the way they are looked after."