Dyche closing in on new signings

Burnley have made two summer signings to date, adding Matt Lowton and Jelle Vossen, essentially to replace Kieran Trippier and Danny Ings.

But since Vossen put pen to paper over a fortnight ago, things have been quiet on the incoming front, although Burnley continue to be linked with Merseyside duo Chris Long of Everton and Jerome Sinclair of Liverpool.

Dyche suggests a couple of deals are in the offing, and Long and Sinclair would certainly fit the profile of players at “bigger clubs who are richer than you” as he explained: “There are a couple of things pending at the moment, we’re hopeful on a couple of situations - we think we’re getting stronger on a couple of situations, but they are from clubs who are quite powerful themselves, so it’s a harder prospect.

“We want a competitive group, we’ve lost good players, we’ve added a couple and want to add more.

“We’re in a position to add more but it’s sometimes frustrating for fans, week after week after week, another team might be waiting for something to happen for them and they can shift one out.

“Money talks of course, but it’s different when you’re going to bigger clubs who are richer than you, then it’s a different ball game.

“There are a couple of players we’re interested in and think they are getting stronger to make them happen, but they’re not ready yet.”

However, the Jason Shackell saga drags on, with reports emanating from Derby suggesting talks are at an advanced stage, while Dyche refuted any such suggestion.

Derby believe they are edging towards a £3m move for the centre back, and Rams boss Paul Clement said: “It’s ongoing.

“Hopefully it can be brought to a conclusion sooner rather than later.”

Shackell has yet to feature in pre-season with calf and back problems, and did not travel to Scotland for the mini-break this week, but Dyche said: “He’s back at the ground getting treatment.

“There’s no situation there, the only situation is the one that I control.

“We’re in a strong position as regard to our own players.

“We’ve made it clear we’re a strong club now.

“We stand by our beliefs and it will be me that decides on any decisions that get made about players, along with the board and Frank McParland who has come in.

“But it comes down to me and, I can assure you, he’s a Burnley player at the moment.

“I’m not saying it won’t change, but at this moment some of the reports are way, way, way wide of the mark.

“If we’re ready to do business, then we’ll do business.”

Burnley won 1-0 at Rangers on Tuesday night, before a 3-0 victory in a behind-closed-doors game at St Mirren on Wednesday, and Dyche said of Tuesday’s run out at Ibrox: “It was excellent. They’re nearly ready for their season and we’ve still got an extra 10 days but I thought it was a terrific game for us.

“They came out of the blocks super-sharp as you would expect, they’re right near their season, and were very good for the first 20 minutes.

“We were off tactically, but once we put that right, we were stronger over the rest of the game.

“But they were excellent for large parts of the game and I’m sure they’ll do really well this season.

“It was fantastic.

“We were down to one striker - unfortunately we got a few knocks and need up playing people for more minutes than planned, just because of injuries.

“Nothing major but at this stage of pre-season we have to be really careful.”