Clarets improve scouting roster

The club have named Robbie Cooke as their new UK and international scout, and Ben Mackriell as technical scout.

And Banaszkiewicz feels those two key scouting appointments will hugely benefit Burnley’s recruitment department.

Cooke, a former striker with Peterborough United and Brentford, among others, served as a scout under David Moyes at Preston, and as chief scout at Everton and Manchester United.

And Mackriell has worked at Everton, Fulham, Reading and Norwich.

And Banaszkiewicz explained: “In the last 12 months, we have beefed up, and pretty much doubled our scouting department, which is a very critical part of the business.

“Robbie was at Everton for 11 years and then Manchester United, and his focus is on domestic and international scouting - it’s not like we’ve not been looking, but we feel there could be better options and value for money, in Europe especially.

“Our past record has not been very good as regards foreign players, and we hope this will make things easier for us going forward.”

Burnley are keen to get as many eyes on games as possible.

While there is more information available than ever before on players around the globe, there is no substitute for getting representatives at games around the continent.

Banaszkiewicz added: “There is so much analysis to identify players - you can look at players playing in the Polish Second Division for example.

“But without getting eyes on them, there are things you cannot see on a computer.

“So we are trying to enhance and build the department, much in the way clubs like West Brom have.

“It has taken a number of years there, but we have to try and emulate that type of club, the way they have built their infrastructure - and, of course, we also have Lee Darnbrough (Head of Recruitment and Analytics) who worked at West Brom.

“It will take time, but these appointments will hopefully leave a legacy at the club for years to come.”