Burnley central defender Clarke Carlisle will be out of contract this summer and speculation is already mounting that he could be prepared to leave Turf Moor with competition now hotting up for a place in the back four.
The Mirror today link him with two clubs and describe Carlisle as a ‘cut-price target’
West Ham is one of those clubs and the other not surprisingly is Owen Coyle’s Bolton. A number of Championship clubs are also reported to be monitoring developments.
Carlisle was signed for £200,000 from Watford in August 2007 agreeing a three-year contract.
Duff and Edgar have recently been making an impression in the centre of defence following injuries to both Carlisle and Caldwell. In November 2009, Burnley also beat off competition from Everton and Celtic to sign 19 year old Cork City defender, Kevin Long.It is understood a six figure deal was agreed which would keep Long at Turf Moor until June 2013. The contract though would legally have to be finalised in this January window and it is assumed that has now happened although there has been no official confirmation.
Brian Laws and his predecessor, Owen Coyle were also looking to strengthen that department with one target being Matthew Kilgallon. We failed in that attempt because we were not prepared to break the salary structure to accommodate him. Kilgallon has since signed for Sunderland for an undisclosed fee on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
Laws will not have seen Carlisle play yet due to his recent injury but could get the chance soon with news that Carlisle has now recovered from the side injury that has kept him sidelined since hobbling off against Wolves at Molineux last month.
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