Tensions between Burnley boss Sean Dyche and chairman Mike Garlick - could long-standing Clarets boss leave at the end of the season?

A report in the Daily Mail suggests "Dyche is considering leaving Burnley at the end of the season due to the deterioration in his relationship with chairman Mike Garlick, which other senior figures at the club fear is fractured beyond repair".

And I understand that is a serious concern, with Dyche's frustration at the failure to extend Jeff Hendrick's contract - despite his advising to do so - while Phil Bardsley agreed a new one-year deal, having initially been released.

Joe Hart, Aaron Lennon and Adam Legzdins will leave the club at the end of their contracts next week, with Dyche also concerned about the money available to strengthen over the summer.

Dyche is expected to have a full bench against Watford tonight, having only named seben of the new allocation of nine at Manchester City on Monday night, which included two goalkeepers. Five of the seven hadn't played a minute for the club.

And Dyche said on Wednesday after Bardsley agreed terms: “It’s a bit quirky. We released him, then re-signed him three days later.

“It’s another body for us. We’re stretched to the limit at the minute.

“There was some suggestion I was trying to prove a point with my bench. I wasn’t, that was my full hit.

“We had everything we had out there, the other night. We’re still missing Barnes, we’re still missing Wood, we’re missing Gudmundsson, on the night we were missing Robbie Brady as well.

“That was every player we have got left.

“It wasn’t a show of anything other than the truth.

"Joe, Aaron, Jeff and Adam, that’s them done. That’s the reality sometimes of life at Burnley, it is difficult.

“I chuckled in the right way the other night when someone said it’s the first time Sean Dyche has questioned his board in seven-and-a-half years.

“I think most boards would be happy to be only questioned once in seven-and-a-half years. I was quite proud of that. I thought that was a positive negative in my mind.”

And he reiterated the need to make "a push in the market" this summer: “We don’t know exactly what is going to happen with the market.

“I don’t know about our situation budget wise, I very rarely do. So I’ll have to wait and see, but there will need to be adaptations to the market, a push in the market at some point because we quite obviously have got to a very skinny squad.

“The facts of football are that we will have to invest more money.

“The shifting sands of football are probably shifting even more than they have done in recent years.”

Dyche signed a long-term deal in early 2018, which has two years remaining, seeing him to almost 10 years in charge, but has continually been linked with the likes of Crystal Palace, West Ham and Aston Villa, with Bournemouth also thrown into the mix by the Mail.

Mark Hughes has been linked with Burnley, should Dyche leave, having worked with technical director Mike Rigg with Wales, Blackburn, Manchester City, QPR and Fulham, while there was also speculation Bristol City boss Lee Johnson would be in the frame.