Burnley boss Sean Dyche pressing on with contract negotiations at Turf Moor

Dyche, who was shortlisted for the Barclays Premier League Manager of the Month award for December, has confirmed that negotiations are ongoing with members of the squad and their representatives.

Matt Lowton, Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Kevin Long all agreed new contracts prior to the trip to Stamford Bridge last weekend while the Clarets took up the option to extend Erik Pieters' stay at the club.

The quartet were the first to put pen-to-paper under ALK's ownership, with chairman Alan Pace keen to back the top-flight's longest-serving manager.

They joined club captain Ben Mee, midfielders Jack Cork and Ashley Westwood and forwards Jay Rodriguez and Matej Vydra in dotting the i's and crossing the t's.

And, sandwiched in-between, England Under 21 international Dwight McNeil gave the Clarets a major boost by penning a new long-term contract.

Dyche, however, isn't finished yet after revealing that he's hopeful of making further breakthroughs in-house.

He said: "We felt it was important. There were a lot of questions outside the group about can we recruit and are we recruiting?

"I've always made it clear that you've got to safeguard what you have got and some deserve rewarding for the good work that they do.

"We want settled players and ones that definitely want to be here. There are a lot of people who have committed to what we do here.

"There are still some contracts that are outstanding, even though they've got quite a bit to run, but we still want to be effective with them. Those lines of communication remain open."

Burnley were unable to replenish their numbers last month as another transfer window passed them by.

Long-term target Jonjoe Kenny joined Celtic on loan from Everton for the remainder of the season and striker Josh King made his move to Goodison Park from AFC Bournemouth.

The Clarets also had a bid, believed to be in the region of £7.5m, knocked back for Stoke City defender Nathan Collins.

"We weren't really close [to making any signings]. They were just longshots really," confirmed Dyche.

"I've always felt that the squad, when it is fit, is at least competitive. We were trying to add to it but the usual stuff comes round.

"It was the lowest market in years, so it wasn't just us. We'll work with what we've got, as we have done many times before, and I believe in what we've got."

Burnley weren't alone in erring on the side of caution during the January transfer window.

Analysis by Deloitte's Sports Business Group highlighted a fall in expenditure across the 'big five' European leagues.

With clubs treading carefully amid the highly uncertain environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic, business was reduced significantly.

There were only 24 Premier League transfers during the window, compared to the average of 46 across the previous three years’ January windows, which is a reduction of 48%.

In line with the reduced volume of deals, the total gross transfer expenditure of Premier League clubs during the January 2021 window fell from £230m in January 2020 to just £70m, marking the lowest window of spending since 2012.

And Dyche feels it's just a sign of the times. "Everyone is waiting to see how all this pans out for many different reasons," he said.

"They've all been tough. I've never had a budget, which always makes it tough. That's not a great start, you never know where you are, so every window is tough for different reasons.

"It's not just about Burnley, you only have to look at the stats and facts of this window to see that it has affected everyone in some way or another.

"There are clubs out there with far more power than us financially, but even they're holding back and waiting to see what happens next.

"I think this window has just been tougher outside of what we do but, generally, transfer windows at Burnley are tough to operate in anyway. The financial side of that is usually the toughest part."