Burnley boss Vincent Kompany not giving up on deal for Sporting Lisbon winger Jovane Cabral

Kompany said at the weekend, when asked if any deals were close: "There is loads but until the ink is dry on the paper . . . we are hopeful and hopefully next week we can strengthen the squad again."

And there have been suggestions in Portugal that the Clarets had agreed a fee of €4m plus €1m in add ons for the 24-year-old Calle Verde international Cabral, and that it was down to the player to decide his future,

However, there looks to be no movement on that transfer at present, for a forward who spent the second half of last season on loan in Serie A with Lazio, who didn’t take up their option to buy.

Kompany explained the situation: “It is definitely an option we pursued, but the latest I heard is that at this moment in time it is not something on the cards.

"If possible, we are trying to bring good players to the club and try and strengthen the club.”

Asked if the deal was dead, Kompany added: “It’s not over until it’s over, you know that!

“But most managers say he’s not our player, so I have to respect he’s someone else’s player.

“That’s still the case, but I don’t want to deny that there has been an interest, and if it happens, we’ll see.

“Those things sometimes have to play out, you state your interest, you do the necessary, and anything we do will be diligent, so we have our ceiling.

“This is what we have, take it or leave it, and this is what we think we can do for you and you for us, and them we move on, because we have to.”

Burnley have also been strongly linked with a loan move for Liverpool centre back Sepp van den Berg, who spent the last 18 months on loan at Preston, but Kompany admitted: “We’re talking about another club’s player, all I can say is Sepp is a really good player, but a key part of it is to find a balance between the players we’ve already got and the game time, making sure that we’re strong enough, and if I follow the progress of our team, I think it’s fair to say we have been defending well, in our own way.

“It has been effective, there’s been blocks, the line has worked hard, and we’ve got as back up lads like CJ Egan-Riley and Luke McNally, potentially guys like Lowton and Long, so I can’t give you a straight answer because it’s not that straight, it’s just making sure we’re covered enough for the long run but also making sure we’re not blocking anyone that is doing well, and we’re discussing this day in, day out.”