Everton plot £25m Burnley raid, Clarets wary of West Ham bidding war

For one thing, the addition of Nathan Collins from Stoke City could prove to be a smart long-term signing at the heart of defence, while fellow defender Ben Mee has spoken positively about the mindset and condition of Sean Dyche’s squad as preseason properly gets underway.

“The lads have come back the best I have seen.

“Everyone has been putting the work in in the off-season, definitely.

”Everyone is doing the running and looking really good.

“That's exciting and we all are raring to go.”

Burnley only had two points after seven games last season, with Mee missing the start of the campaign as he recovered from injury, and he knows that can’t happen again: “That's definitely a priority to get points under our belts early on and get off to a good start.

”We don't want to be relying on a good second half of this season.

“We want to get off to a good start and work from there.

“We have got plenty of experience and we are always optimistic, enthusiastic of where we can go in the season and it's no different this season.”

Burnley open the Premier League season at home to Brighton on August 14th, with the Clarets opening their preseason schedule away at Oldham Athletic on Saturday afternoon.

We’ve gathered the best of today’s Premier League transfer speculation below...