Final third quality and offloading: What do Burnley need in the January transfer window?

A new signing was announced before the New Year even arrived, with Oliver Sonne’s switch from Danish side Silkeborg made public before the window officially opened.

The attacking full-back has yet to feature for the Clarets – ineligible for the Stoke game and suspended for the derby – but could well get his chance to impress in Berkshire this weekend when Scott Parker’s men take on Reading in the third round of the FA Cup.

Then we fast forward to last Thursday night, 10.45pm to be exact, when social media was set ablaze by a now customary club announcement video confirming the shock return of Clarets favourite Ashley Barnes.

Burnley certainly needed reinforcing in the striker department, we just didn’t expect it to be Bash!

But with plenty of time still remaining in the window, what business do Burnley need to do?

Speaking directly after Saturday’s memorable win at Ewood, Parker was a little bit more emphatic about the chances of further arrivals than he has been in previous weeks, having initially provided some coy responses about Burnley’s transfer plans.

He said: “We’ll try and be a little bit active in January on both sides of it, with maybe some going out and hopefully a couple coming in.

“We’ll keep looking, but as I’ve always said it’s a difficult window and you probably need to be a bit more reactive than planning, which is exactly how we’ll need to be.”

The Clarets boss has consistently claimed Burnley will look to move players on this month, especially those who are struggling for game time at this current juncture.

We’ve already seen two of those come to fruition, with Han-Noah Massengo returning to Auxerre on loan and Andreas Hountondji making the temporary switch to Belgian side Standard Liege.

Shurandy Sambo is another name Parker confirmed could depart, most likely on loan. Hannes Delcroix could do with some game time too.

Hjalmar Ekdal is another one that could do with some minutes, having not made a single appearance this season. In his defence, the 26-year-old has only recently returned from a lengthy lay-off, but do the Clarets need to carry another centre-back when they’ve already got John Egan and Joe Worrall waiting in the wings?

Then there’s the curious continued absence of Mike Tresor, who – like Ekdal – hasn’t kicked a ball for Burnley this season.

The winger has recently been suffering with a dead leg before reporting ill ahead of the Stoke City game on New Year’s Day. He remained absent against Blackburn and his future is still up in the air.

When asked if he expects Tresor to remain a Burnley player beyond the January window, Parker recently said: “I’m honestly not really sure.

“What I do know is that the club have put huge investment into Mikey and he’s obviously got some quality.

“We need to get Mikey to a level where he’s fit and try and get him available for games to play for us and help us this year. That’s the main aim, that’s certainly what I’m doing and what we’re all doing.

“Hopefully we can get there and hopefully we can get over these little niggles he seems to be picking up and get him back up to speed to help us this year by scoring some goals for us and get us out of this division.”

On the incoming front, there’s no prizes for guessing where Burnley will look to strengthen.

Burnley are in top form, remaining unbeaten in their last 13, and now sit just a point off top spot, but there’s no denying they’ve lacked a spark in the final third this season, scoring just 31 times in 26 games.

With Barnes returning to provide competition to Zian Flemming, Lyle Foster and Jay Rodriguez, do the Clarets need another number nine? Or is it an extra wide frontman that is required?

Of course a lot depends on what becomes available, because as Parker often states you often need to be reactive in January. But I suspect it will more likely be the latter, a winger to compete with Jaidon Anthony, Luca Koleosho and Jeremy Sarmiento.

The picture is confused a little by the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Enock Agyei, Manuel Benson and Nathan Redmond still being sidelined with injuries. If one or two of those return over the next few weeks, the need for further additions isn’t quite so essential.

But what was initially advertised as a fairly quiet window could soon become a busy one, although nothing like the chaos of the summer ins and outs.