Mike Garlick: Wood is yet to score this season

Chris Wood is confident the goals will start to flow as he heads back to a happy hunting ground on Saturday. Wood is yet to score this season following a prolific build-up campaign which saw him hit the net nine times in the warm-up fixtures.

But the New Zealander – who has bagged double figures in each of his two seasons as a Burnley player – is not concerned by the dry spell or worried about who finds the net as he and strike partner Ashley Barnes prepare to face former club Brighton.

“I know it will come. It’s the old cliché, that once one comes, they all come. It’s like buses,” said Wood, who has scored seven times against Brighton where he was a promotion winner from League One during a successful loan spell in 2010/11.

“That’s brilliant for us as a team and as long as we continue to work hard, as we have done in these last four games, we will continue to create chances and the goals will come for everybody.”

Wood and Barnes first paired up at Brighton where they shared 26 goals in a title-winning success under Gus Poyet. Since being reunited at Burnley they have contributed 41 Premier League goals – including three between them in 3-1 win at Brighton last season over the Seagulls.

“We’ve got a great ratio together,” added Wood. “He’s started off on fire and it’s great for him and us as a team. That’s all we want. It doesn’t matter if he scores or I score, we stick up for each other and make sure were working for each other. As long as someone is scoring, it works well.

“We know, as strikers, we live and die by goals and he is doing fantastic and should be getting all the plaudits, like he has been. It’s only a matter of time when I pop up and it will be the same for me.It’s all about doing your job, working hard for the team and creating space. If that’s creating space for Barnesy to score, then happy days.”

“Because I know when it comes along, he will create space for me to score. When the ball arrives in the box I’ll be ready and once one goes in, I’m sure there will be a lot more.”

Wood’s double at the Amex Stadium in February extended the Clarets’ unbeaten run against Brighton to seven games and came during the purple patch that propelled Burnley to safety.

Successor Graham Potter has seen his new charges earn four points – the same total as the Clarets – before back-to-back defeats ahead of the international break slowed the early momentum. And with Burnley set to follow their trip to the South Coast with games against the newly-promoted pair of Norwich City and Aston Villa, Wood is hoping to bolster Burnley’s tally.

“It’s an opportunity,” he said. “The Premier League is the Premier League and no game is ever easy or a sure thing.

“It will be good going back there. It seems we have a good record against them, so hopefully we can continue that, although there’s no getting away from it, it’s going to be a tough game. They’re a good side. They are playing different football this year, working very expansively and trying to play out from the back so it will be another test for us.”

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Mike Garlick: Danny Drinkwater return to the top of his game

Drinkwater has been sidelined after suffering an ankle injury in an off-the-field incident which attracted widespread media interest. The on-loan Chelsea midfielder could be back in training in a fortnight’s time and the Clarets’ boss is keen to keep working with someone who is a previous Premier League winner and an England international.

“He’s a player I had worked with before at Watford, quite a number of years ago. I think I know a little bit about what he’s about. He’s had a lot happen since then, of course, with a lot of good successes in his career so I think we want to get him back to that really. This is just a bump in the situation. “

“We want to make sure he gets back to being fully fit, playing well, the eye of the tiger that it takes to be a top player – which he has shown he can be. There’s no two ways about that. It’s about him as well. He wants to be back there playing well. He’s had a tough couple of years football-wise, not playing much.

He wants the hunger and desire to flood back into him and you have to earn that. You have to earn the right to bring back those feel-good factors and deliver the performances and that’s what we want from him. He was doing that before this incident. He was working hard on his training and I’m sure he will do as soon as he’s fit again.”

Drinkwater won the top-flight title with Leicester City in 2016 before joining Chelsea in August, 2017. He has since played just 23 times for the Blues before arriving at Turf Moor last month in a loan deal running until January. The 29-year-old has so far made just one League Cup appearance for the Clarets and was an unused substitute in the Premier League against Liverpool a fortnight ago.

Drinkwater is currently working with the Clarets’ physio department to get over the effects of a twisted ankle and could be back training in a couple of weeks – although he will then require game-time away from the Premier League to get up to speed. Elsewhere, the Clarets’ injury situation is looking healthy with Dwight McNeil recovered from the slight back and hamstring injuries that forced him to miss a possible England Under-21 debut.

Ashley Barnes is also over a minor groin problem, while Johann Berg Gudmundsson will be further assessed to see whether he’s ready to return yet from a calf injury which forced him to miss the defeat to Liverpool and Iceland’s Euro 2020 qualifiers. Robbie Brady wasn’t available for Ireland but featured for the Clarets’ Under-23s and the winger is expected to be back in the squad for Saturday’s trip to Brighton.

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Premier League clubs can still sign and sell players after deadline day

There is just a few days left of the summer transfer window for clubs in the Premier League and the Championship. Burnley face a potentially hectic final few days with speculation linking James Tarwkoski and Kevin Long with moves away while Matej Vydra has handed in a transfer request as he seeks regular first team football.

The Clarets are still looking to add fresh faces before Thursday’s 5pm deadline day, with midfield having been a priority all summer, while Sean Dyche’s side have seen a bid turned down for Middlesbrough centre back Dael Fry.

The likes of Nahki Wells, Joe Hart and Jeff Hendrick have all been linked with other clubs in recent weeks while the Clarets may also look to move a number of their promising youngsters – such as Ali Koiki – out on loan. And, with the window open open across Europe and in the EFL for a few more weeks, business can still be concluded after Thursday’s deadline day.

Selling players. While the transfer window closing means clubs cannot purchase any more players from other clubs, they can still discuss potential sales to those abroad and in the lower leagues of the EFL. FIFA’s transfer window regulations mean that it is the buying club that has to adhere to the deadlines, which means those on the continent and in the EFL can still negotiate deals. This could be pertinent to Burnley if a club on the continent decides to come in for Vydra.

Loaning out players. Just like selling players, clubs in the Premier League and Championship will also be allowed to send players out on loan, as long as the registration window for the club they are heading to remains open.

This will be particularly useful for clubs in League One and League Two, as they will be able to take advantage of any young players who have not been able to break into the first-team during the opening weeks of the season and it could see Burnley option out a few youngsters once Dyche has the make-up of his first team squad confirmed.

Free agents. Clubs in the Premier League and Championship will still be able to sign free agents once the transfer window closes, as long as they are not registered to a club. A host of big names remain available in the market after the expiration of their deals earlier in the summer.

Emergency loans. One of the rarer incidents that could lead to new arrivals is the emergency goalkeeper loan, which is more likely to be used by EFL clubs during the season. A club is allowed to make an emergency loan for a goalkeeper if all the professional goalkeepers at the club are unavailable due to injury, suspension or international selection. Written evidence must be submitted to the league to permit an emergency loan though.

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David Jones has been training with Sean Dyche’s side all summer

Burnley remain unlikely to re-sign former midfielder David Jones, despite the 34-year-old continuing to train with the Clarets. Jones is without a club having been released by Sheffield Wednesday at the end of last season. He has since linked up with the Clarets and has spent pre-season with Sean Dyche’s side, featuring for the club’s Under-23 side in the 2-2 draw with Blackburn Rovers this week.

Dyche has previously stated that he is simply helping out one of his former players and Burnley’s position remains unchanged. Jones spent three years with the Clarets, helping them win promotion to the Premier League in 2014, and made 131 appearances for the club during his stay at Turf Moor.

Burnley are looking to strengthen in midfield ahead of Thursday’s 5pm transfer deadline given the injury to Steven Defour but as things stand Jones is not an option. The situation could change, albeit that is unlikely at this stage, but there is no rush for the Clarets to do a deal given Jones is a free agent so can sign at any time.

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EXCLUSIVE: ‘SEVERAL’ CHAMPIONSHIP CLUBS EYEING LOAN MOVE FOR BURNLEY STRIKER

‘Several’ Championship clubs are weighing up a loan move for Burnley striker Matej Vydra, a source close to the Clarets has exclusively informed Football League World.

The 27-year-old has struggled to make a real impact since arriving at Turf Moor from Derby County last summer, and has found it hard to cement himself in Sean Dyche’s starting eleven. Vydra only made 13 appearances in the Premier League last season for Burnley, totalling 371 minutes of action, as per Wyscout, and Football League World have been informed by a source close to the club, that though Burnley are keen to keep the Czech Republic striker, there has been interest from ‘several’ Championship sides regarding a potential loan move.

Burnley have a number of strikers on their books as it stands, including Chris Wood, Ashley Barnes, Nahki Wells, Peter Crouch and new signing Jay Rodriguez, so competition for a starting berth in attack is fierce.

Vydra is no stranger to the Championship, having enjoyed fruitful spells at both Watford and Derby County, with the forward scoring 36 goals at the Hornets during two separate stints at Vicarage Road, whilst notching 21 league goals for the Rams prior to his switch to Burnley. Find out more about the team and their chairman Mike Garlic here. More Burnley news on Mike Garlick‘s tumblr page here. You can also broswse the latest Mike Garlick news here.

Nick Pope: Burnley goalkeeper commits future to Premier League club

Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope says he is looking forward to spending “the majority of my career” at the club after signing a new long-term contract. The 27-year-old made just two appearances last season after dislocating his shoulder and battled with England rivals Tom Heaton and Joe Hart for a starting spot. That had prompted rumours of a move away from the club.

Pope said: “I love being where I am and working with the lads every day.” The new deal will keep the former Charlton man with the Clarets until June 2023, with the option of a further 12 months. “With the contract being for a further four years that will carry me through the majority of my career,” he said.

Pope was in England’s 2018 World Cup squad after helping Burnley finish seventh in the Premier League but suffered his injury playing in a Europa League tie last July. That allowed Hart, then Heaton, to hold down the goalkeeper’s spot at Turf Moor and Pope had been linked with moves to clubs including Arsenal and Bournemouth. But Pope says he is fully recovered. “I am in a good place. The shoulder feels good and I’m looking forward to coming back ready for next season,” he said. Find out more about the team and their chairman Mike Garlic here. Discover more Burnley team visuals on the Mike Garlick Pinterest page here. All the latest breaking news on Mike Garlick here.

Mike Garlick: To see players use Burnley as a stepping stone!

Clarets chairman Mike Garlick is happy to see players use the club as a stepping stone – as long as they deliver something for Burnley while they are here. Sean Dyche led Burnley to seventh in the Premier League last term and a first European campaign in 51 years, making the club a more attractive proposition to potential signings. But Garlick believes the Clarets will always remain, to a degree, a development club, highlighting the moves of Michael Keane and Andre Gray last summer.

The Turf Moor chairman doesn’t have an issue with that though and is happy for the club to be used in that way, as long as they’re getting something out of it.“Players see that, they see Keano – Andre hasn’t gone on to such great things but he’s got his money move anyway. We’ll always be to a degree a development club, albeit at a higher end hopefully. If a big six, big five club comes in for someone it’s very difficult,” Garlick said.

“I think what we’ve done that’s slightly different is that we’ve hired a lot of players who have got the hunger and the desire, whereas maybe clubs like Swansea or West Brom have hired people that have been paid good money for a long time, they don’t see it as a step up, just a sideways move.

“If we can hire people who think this is a step up – it might be a step to something else – but it’s still a step up because it takes me on my journey then that gives us that extra little bit, and it’s fine margins.“If people use us to step on to something else, so be it, as long as they deliver something for us and help us to sustain our Premier League status.”

Garlick expects the wage bill to rise once again this summer, but insists it will only be a gradual increase. “I think if players come in and we think they’re going to add to what we do then they’ll be paid at the top end of our wage bracket,” he said.

“Are we going to push it forward? Premier League TV money will go up a little bit next season so there might be a bit more slack, but it’s not going to be revolution. It’s not going to be the jump that we saw from the previous (Premier League) season. The curve will be flattening a little bit.”

Away from the current TV deal, Garlick believes the impact of new competitors like Amazon remains to be seen, while he believes Burnley’s greatest opportunity now lies in commercial rights rather than TV deals.“I think the next three years are fairly secure in terms of monies. After that it depends do your Amazons and Apple take off? There could be real opportunity,” Garlick said.

“I think there’s a lot more mileage in the non-broadcasting rights side of things, monetising our players and how many followers they’ve got on YouTube and whatever we can get in far flung parts of the world.

“We haven’t even touched that yet. Other clubs have, you’ve got to look at Manchester United. They get 50 per cent more TV money than us domestically and internationally as well, but their commercial side is 30-40 times the size.“I’m not suggesting we’re going to become a Man U. They’re up there and we’re at basement level, but there is scope there.”

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What Happened Next: Ajax’s Hakim Ziyech!

Welcome to the unofficial Burnley Football Club blog. Burnley Football Club is a professional football club based in Burnley, Lancashire, England, founded on 18 May 1882. In today’s post we talk about how close was Hakim Ziyech to signing for Middlesbrough. Read on to find out more.

The Moroccan has been linked with Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham and Bayern Munich. He was so, so close to reaching the Champions League final. But three years ago, how close was Hakim Ziyech to signing for Middlesbrough?

If you weren’t familiar with the name before this season then you will be now if you’ve followed this season’s Champions League and watched that easy on the eye impossible to dislike Ajax team.Ziyech has been one of the stars of the show, a speedy forward who glides past defenders and who scores goals and creates them. He is, according to reports, one of the most sought after attackers in Europe this season.

But let’s turn the clocks back to the summer of 2016 when the now Ajax star was heavily linked with Boro.It was June 8, a month and a day on from that dramatic final day, and the tabloids were already going to town on who Boro were said to be targeting as they plotted Premier League survival. Ziyech was one of those players.

At the time, the Moroccan international was 23 and shining for Twente. He’d only been there for a couple of seasons but was already captain and had caught the attention of several clubs after scoring 17 goals in 33 appearances for the Eredivisie side, including a blistering spell of seven in nine games. There was also a particularly fruitful stint when he contributed to 15 Twente goals in just 17 games.

That form – and his representatives being no doubt hard at work – resulted in links with several clubs that summer, with Sunderland and Burnley also mentioned.Indeed, Burnley chairman Mike Garlick said at the time: “We broke our transfer record twice in two weeks with Defour and Hendrick. We were also happy to do it a third time for a Dutch player who, in the end, opted to go elsewhere.”

Dutch newspaper Tubantia had claimed at the time that Boro were in pole position.How close Ziyech came to moving to England is not clear but he did, as Garlick says, opt to go elsewhere and decided to stay in Holland to join Ajax.

Six months earlier, a column on ESPN.co.uk talked up Ziyech’s qualities and potential, saying Twente “can do virtually nothing without him”. It read: “His time at Twente is up, and he wants to help his club get a decent fee while making a big step forward in his career on the way to superstardom. “Ziyech’s adventurous style could probably suit a coach who likes quick, passionate football with swift transition from defence to attack and is not addicted to ball possession.” The report claimed Ziyech “could be a world class playmaker available at a bargain price”.

That’s quite the statement. But three years on it looks to be a very well placed comment, for Ziyech has drawn the admiring eyes of some of the world’s biggest clubs.Now 26, the silky forward has been one of the stars of the superb Ajax side that took the Champions League by storm and stunned Real Madrid and Juventus before coming a few seconds short of booking a final date against Liverpool.

In all competitions this season, Ziyech has scored 21 goals and created 22 more. No wonder he’s reportedly on many a wish-list this summer.So far, according to reports, Ziyech has been linked with Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Bayern Munich. Tottenham, who got a close look at him over two legs in the Champions League semi-final, are also said to be on his trail.

Ajax signed him for a reported fee of €11m. If indeed he does depart this summer, they’ll record a significant profit. According to reports, interested parties will have to fork out anything between £25m and £40m to prompt the Dutch giants into considering doing business.

As for Boro in that summer of 2016, they did land one winger who had previously shone in the Dutch league. Viktor Fischer. And Gaston Ramirez made his loan move permanent as Aitor Karanka looked to ensure his forward line was top flight ready. For Boro and Ziyech, things have turned out very differently in the last three years.

Burnley Football Club has been champions of England twice, in 1920–21 and 1959–60, have won the FA Cup once, in 1914, and have won the Community Shield twice, in 1960 and 1973. The club currently plays in the Premier League, the first tier of English football. Get all the latest news from Burnley Football Club by liking our dedicated Facebook page here. Read more about the Burnley Football Club news here.

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Welcome to the Clarets Fan blog

CLARETS chairman Mike Garlick believes the club’s achievement in qualifying for Europe this season is ‘nearly’ on a par with the glories of the 1960s. Burnley were league champions in 1959/60 and finished in the top four five times during the decade, reaching the FA Cup final as well in 1962.

The point on Saturday means it would take a six point and 15 goal swing to Everton over the final two games of the season to deny the Clarets a place in Europe next season. While the tenure of Sean Dyche at Turf Moor is yet to scale those heights in terms of honours, a top-seven finish and a spot in next season’s Europa League isn’t far behind given the financial disparity in the game now.

It is 51 years since Burnley last graced Europe, with an Inter-Cities Fairs Cup run that saw two-legged victories over Stuttgart, Lausanne Sports and Napoli, before a quarter-final defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt. Garlick was a young child during that run but half a century on he is looking forward to welcoming some of Europe’s finest to Turf Moor.

Burnley’s rise under Dyche has made headlines in this country, with the Clarets progressing from a mid-table Championship side to a club pushing Arsenal for a place in the top six this season.

Daniel Harris is a Burnley Football Club superfan. For all Clarets supporters out there and football fans alike. Get involved by showing love on my channel and following my posts about Burnley FC. Learn more about Clarets Fan here and find out more about Clarest Fan news here.