Clarets boss Dyche set to make club-record swoop for Gray

A £6m deal appeared on the cards last night, with Sean Dyche revealing the club are “attempting to make big signings.”

With Henri Lansbury looking set to stay at Nottingham Forest, despite a £4m offer for the midfielder, the Clarets remain keen to add to the squad, after failing to win in their first three Championship games, and suffering a Capital One Cup exit at Port Vale.

Gray turned down a move to Bristol City after a £9million offer was accepted by the Bees, but Burnley could get their man for two thirds of that price, with Gray believed to be keen on the move.

Gray is well known to Burnley sporting director Frank McParland, who helped take him to Brentford from Luton for £600,000, saying this summer: “With the limited budget that I had I had to look around.

“Andre Gray, who we signed for £600,000, was unbelievable.

“We did a lot of work at Brentford on the stats and probably watched him live in seven, eight or nine games. We did a lot of background checks and followed him for about two or three months every game and every week before making a decision on him.

“That one really worked out well. What a great kid with a good attitude. I like people who want to play football and work really hard. I like similar players to what the manager likes.”

And Dyche is seemingly prepared to double the club’s transfer record as he looks to add a killer instinct to his frontline.

Gray hit 18 goals last season, and has two in two in the Championship so far this term.

Dyche said: “We are looking to spend as much money as we can.

“We are operating with situations that will push our boundaries, there’s no two ways about it.

“We are actively in the market, and I don’t mean at a very little level. We are actively trying to look for big signings, and if it needs big money we will back it.

“Of course there’s a limit, I must make that clear.

“But we’ve made signings already, we will make more signings as and when needed and we are attempting to do so.

“People say ‘they’re trying to keep the money back’. I’m not and neither are the club. We have an amount of money that safeguards the club. We’ve brought money in from transfers. At the minute we’re actually in front of the game with what we’ve brought in and what we’re spending. But that’s not the point, the point is we have money to spend.

“It just can’t be an open amount. There has to be a limit for the club, whether it’s contractual or whether it’s the fee. There has to be a balance.

“There’s a market still here and it’s one we’re still active in.

“There are situations we have opened up and we think there are some strong possibilities of those situations becoming realities.

“The hardest side of the market is the level that you’re looking at which in our case are ones we deem to be very good players, we’re not the only ones looking at those players. Then it comes down to finance, then appropriate finance, then availability and all parties to say yes.”

While Nottingham Forest have been vocal on the collapse of the Lansbury deal, that is not Dyche’s style.

Speaking about the process of signing players, however, he admitted: “It is very difficult.

“It’s frustrating, you have your list of players.

“You can’t sign them all, you have to have a list. What happens when your list of five runs out? That’s happened before. That’s with money or without money.

“The market is just what it is, and it is tough.

“Hopefully there will be situations that arise that surprise people, how far we’ll go into the market, but we shall see.”

Striker Lukas Jutkiewicz was a player Forest boss Dougie Freedman was keen on as a potential makeweight in the Lansbury deal, before the former Arsenal man agreed to stay at the City Ground.

But Jutkiewicz is in contention to start tomorrow.

Asked whether the speculation would be an issue, Dyche said: “I don’t see why it would be. He speaks to me. The one thing my players know is I always tell them the truth. If they ask me anything they’ll get a truthful answer.”

“I’ve never mentioned anything to Juke.

“What isn’t out there about any player at any given time? It’s never been specific from me.

“Juke’s absolutely fine, he’s got every chance of playing on Saturday. They’re wise enough to understand all the rumours. They all know now.

“It can only be relevant if it’s from my end because he’s my player.

“It’s not relevant what anyone else says, it’s only relevant what I say and what I say to the player.”

Despite constantly striving to do his transfer business in private, Dyche said the public nature of the Lansbury saga did not bother him.

“It hasn’t affected me, it never does,” he said.

“I have a way of working. I think it’s appropriate for me, the football club, the staff, the fans. We just try and do what we can do and we do it as quietly as we can.

“We be as direct as we can with the people we’re dealing with and if other parties choose to talk about other things that’s up to them. We choose not to.”