Foster, Roberts and Sarmiento: Burnley injury update ahead of festive Sheffield United encounter
Lyle Foster is closing in on a return from injury for Burnley after spending almost three months on the sidelines.
The striker hasn’t featured for the Clarets since injuring his knee while away on international duty with South Africa in October.
The 24-year-old has been back in training for a couple of weeks and Burnley will now decide when the time is right to introduce him back into the fold.
“He’s not too far,” Parker said, speaking ahead of the Boxing Day clash with league leaders Sheffield United.
“He probably needs a bit more work still. He’s now been back on the grass for some time, a few weeks now, but again we need to make sure it’s the right time.
“He’s been out for some time so we want to make sure he’s right and we don’t push him back and we end up regretting that further down the line, so we’re just monitoring that closely.”
Having Foster back available for selection would be a huge boost for Parker, who is lacking options in the attacking third of the pitch.
Zian Flemming, who prefers to play as a number 10, and Jay Rodriguez are currently the only out-and-out number nines available.
“At the weekend we had eight attacking players out and you could see that from the bench, because we had five or six defenders,” Parker added.
“Certainly Lyle and the other attacking players that are currently injured at the moment, like Enock Agyei and Manuel Benson, they will give us a bit more depth as well as their quality in that attacking phase of the game. That would be helpful.”
Elsewhere, Jordan Beyer, Aaron Ramsey, Nathan Redmond and Mike Tresor are expected to remain absent for the trip to Bramall Lane along with Agyei, Benson and Foster.
Connor Roberts should be fit enough to start again despite coming off with a slight ankle problem against Watford on Saturday, while Jeremy Sarmiento could also make his return after being forced off against Norwich City.
“There’s nothing really new to report,” Parker confirmed.
“We just had a recovery day today so we were just checking over a couple of players and we’re hoping there may be a couple back for our game on Boxing Day.
“I don’t suspect anyone will be coming out of the squad from what was available for the last game.
“Jeremy is moving in the right direction, Connor as well. It was a recovery day today but it looks like it was just a little knock for Connor, so he should be fine and we hope it’s the same for Jeremy as well.”