Dyche won't overfill his squad despite the demands

The LMA Manager of the Year nominee is well versed in utilising and making the most of a scaled-down group and that won’t change any time soon.

While the Turf Moor chief will be another three down following the departures of Scott Arfield and Dean Marney, with Georges-Kevin Nkoudou set to return to Spurs, he isn’t prepared to let any activity in the transfer market be of any detriment to his current class.

Dyche accepts that the team has been stretched on occasions this season, and moves will be made to strengthen as a consequence, but with Steven Defour, Robbie Brady and Jonathan Walters returning to fitness, the numbers will be massaged accordingly, not excessively.

With four competitions to juggle next season, Dyche said: “We’ve been stretched this season, plus we’ve still got players missing. So they come back and you immediately have two, three players back before you worry about recruitment.

“That’s going to be interesting integrating them back in to the squad.

“Robbie and Steven are on their way, they’re working with the physios, both in light training, making really good progress.

“They’ve become important players and we look forward to them returning in good shape in pre-season.

“That’s a great start. Then, can we look to add? If so, it’s got to be something that works for the club.”

He added: “There’s a fine balance. I spoke to managers at bigger clubs and they had to thin down their squads.

“I don’t think we’re there yet, but you do think ‘how many do we actually need?’

“So we have to mindful not to overfill the club, because you lose some of the attention and detail we want to put on the players, for them to continue maturing.

“We’ve been adaptable, we’re still working at 23 outfield players, which is quite high for us, so we don’t want to overfill it, but the main thing for me is the quality of the players.

“If you have true competition in every position, which we’ve more or less had over the season, that’s where it really works for you.”

The Clarets face the prospect of playing three two-legged qualifiers before being accepted in to the group stages of the Europa League.

Should they succeed, the squad would then have to play another six games, minimum, in the competition.

However, Dyche knows that his players can cope with the demands.

“I personally don’t like the idea of rotation, I like the idea of picking a team that can win, that’s my focus,” he said.

“In the Championship we had a lot more games, and the travel, nowadays, even we can have those things called private jets.

“Seven and a half hours on a coach to Ipswich...that was my first away trip, so we’ve had our share of travelling, our lads will be alright.”