Contract situations not reliant on staying in the Premier League - Burnley boss Sean Dyche

The Clarets have 10 senior players out of contract in the summer – James Tarkowski, who is expected to leave at the end of his deal, captain Ben Mee, Dale Stephens, Aaron Lennon, Jay Rodriguez, Erik Pieters, Phil Bardsley and Matej Vydra, while Jack Cork and Ashley Barnes both have an option for an extra year in club’s favour.

In last year’s accounts, wages grew from £87m to £94m, adjusted for a 12-month comparison period, partially due to the increased bonus paid to players for finishing 10th in 2019/20.

So obviously losing out on Premier League prize money would be a hit.

However, that isn’t a consideration as regards who stays and who goes, as Dyche said: “No, not really, I’ve mentioned to Alan (Pace) a number of months ago about contract situations – the challenges of the current players against what we can bring in, against the future, because we want to be blending in the future with the current players we think can help us in the Premier League.

“All the lines of communication are open, they’re speaking to the agents and players.

“Sometimes it’s a player’s view to hold, sometimes it’s the club’s view to hold.

“Many different situations can occur, and it’s kind of an individual process for each player.

“Each player will have a different view of their future, whether that’s the present or long term.”

One thing is for sure, the average age of the squad needs to be lowered.

Burnley have the oldest squad in the Premier League, and the side put out at Leeds on Sunday was the club’s oldest in the

Premier League era.

The club made steps in the summer to remedy the situation, bringing in Nathan Collins (20), Maxwel Cornet (25) and Connor Roberts (26), but Dyche was prevented from performing such surgery until the arrival of ALK Capital 12 months ago.

He said: “We were looking to do that three or four years ago but couldn’t get the investment to do that, so it’s been a slow-burner, just working hand to mouth really, with what we could get in at that time.

“The ALK group and Alan have come in to specifically look at that and know they have to put some investment in to get that to happen, and the process for younger players to come in and add to the current experience of the group – to get that nice blend that every club is looking for – and we certainly have been for a while.

“It’s just you need finance to do that.

“And this summer was the first in a few summers that there was finance available to say ‘let’s look at the next level of younger player, some developing players, some a bit more game ready, and try and blend them into the team.

“That’s what we looked to do last summer and will continue to do.”