Clarets smash record to sign Gray

The 24-year-old has signed a three-year contract for a fee believed to be £6m - double the previous record jointly held by George Boyd and Steven Fletcher.

Earlier this week, Gray turned down a move to Bristol City after a £9m offer was accepted by the Bees

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.”

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

Manager Sean Dyche yesterday intimated a big deal was on the cards: “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.”