Clarets playing numbers game in transfer market

The Clarets have made offers for Brentford pair James Tarkowski and Alan Judge.

And with no game until Monday’s televised clash with promotion rivals Derby County, the club have time to focus on trying to push through deals.

But Sean Dyche admits it ultimately all boils down to finance.

Ahead of the Clarets’ 3-1 win at Brentford on Friday night, the Bees voiced their disappointment at the timing of a bid for Judge.

Brentford boss Dean Smith revealed on Thursday that the Clarets had lodged an offer for the former Blackburn Rovers man, and the club also announced before the game that centre back Tarkowski, the subject of an earlier bid from Burnley, had refused to play amid the speculation.

Asked whether the gap between the Brentford and Derby games would be useful in the transfer market, Dyche said: “I don’t think it really matters, just because somewhere down the line it’s usually a numbers game.

“Sometimes a club would promote the sale of someone because they might have financial needs, or are surplus to requirements. But usually it’s a financial equation that occurs when all parties agree something.

“If a deal’s ready to happen it’s ready to happen.”

Brentford reportedly want £5m for Tarkowski and £8m for Judge, and Dyche added: “I think the market moves year on year anyway, but in the last 18-20 months the market has moved forward unbelievably.”

Whoever comes into the club, Dyche is pleased with how the latest incarnation of his team are felling together, with one defeat in seven games, five wins, 18 goals and four against.

Just over three years into his reign, he has built a team to win promotion in the summer of 2013, while relegation saw the departure of Jason Shackell, Danny Ings and Kieran Trippier, and Dyche said: “I think we’re improving.

“It’s a third re-modelling we’ve had of the team since we’ve been at the club. People always think that’s an instant thing, and it’s not.

“We’ve had a couple of ups and downs along the way to where we’ve got to so far, but I’ve been quite happy with the way the team is operating and I think there have been clear signs of that this season with a lot of goals going for us.

“There was a blip at Hull, while they were clinical on the day, there wasn’t a lot in the game.

“We’ve had clean sheets and a lot of goals scored so we’re back on a nice positive run with 13 points from our last six (league) games.

“That kind of golden marker of two points a game on average is a nice place to be in, with a nice cup win in amongst it. But the last one doesn’t guarantee the next one so we have to focus on that.”