Dyche banking on board in transfer market

Clarets boss Sean Dyche hopes the Burnley board can loosen the purse strings to help strengthen his squad for the challenge of the Premier League.
Sean DycheSean Dyche
Sean Dyche

Burnley sealed their first signings of the summer on Tuesday, announcing the £2.5m capture of Johann Berg Gudmundsson and £1.1m keeper Nick Pope, both from Charlton.

But the Clarets have seen offers for Derby County's Jeff Hendrick and Dale Stephens of Brighton knocked back.

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Dyche knows he needs to strengthen his squad further, but accepts it will be difficult to bring in the required quality to take on the Premier League under the club's current financial structure.

Two years ago, the club spent roughly £10m on transfers in the Premier League - the second lowest sum in modern times behind Blackpool's outlay in 2010 - as they struggled to land their targets.

The new £5bn television deal means Premier League clubs are richer than ever before, but as Sunderland's Sam Allardyce noted last week, "The problem is that everybody thinks the money makes things easier, but it's actually made things more difficult, because we all have the same money and everybody else has got so much more expensive."

Dyche concurred: “People think it’s changed from two years ago. It’s still a difficult market.

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“The chairman and the board have told me there are certain parameters and guidelines, and I have told them the targets we want and it’s down to them now.

“It’s a tough market. We have moved forward and other clubs have moved forward. No-one gives players away.

“It’s very difficult. What’s today’s news? ‘£105m now is it for Pogba?’ It’s an interesting journey for Burnley.

“It’s moved on no end in the last couple of years, because the financial side of the television shifts forward and that shifts everyone’s thinking forward.

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“Certain deals break the market, and once they break the market, everyone ups the ante on their own players.

“If you are a selling club at the moment, you are probably in good shape. But we are a hopeful buying club, and that makes it more difficult.

“We know we have to add to the quality level and we are looking to do that."

He added: “I’ve told the board the type of quality we need and the players we need, and the chairman is working actively to try and get them over the line.

“It’s down to him now to find the finance for the deals.

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“We have all learned, the club has learned. Last time we went close but we needed more.

“We are in a position to attempt to get more, but there are still certain guidelines the club wants to work under and it makes it very, very tough.

“We’ve said it all along. It’s not an impossible task, but it’s a difficult task to attract the quality you need within a certain wage structure and within a certain financial structure, which in Burnley’s world is a good financial structure, but in the world of the Premier League is very, very small, so it’s still difficult.”