It is now going to be inevitable that Burnley will be linked with a move for a number of strikers following the transfer of Charlie Austin to QPR yesterday for an undisclosed fee thought to be in the region of £3-4 million. The Daily Mail in particular have been in overdrive suggesting links with Wolves strikers, Kevin Doyle and Ebanks-Blake and now Southampton forward, Billy Sharp.
Over the last few seasons under a succession of Burnley managers, Billy Sharp is one name that continually comes up but so far he has always spurned the Clarets and gone elsewhere.
The striker joined Southampton from Doncaster Rovers in January 2012 for an undisclosed fee rumoured to be around £1.8m after agreeing a three and a half year deal. However he only managed to notch up 19 appearances for the Saints since joining scoring 9 goals. He fell out of favour at the Premier League club and in August 2012, Sharp joined Championship club, Nottingham Forest on loan for the remainder of the 2012-13 season. During his time at the City Ground he scored 10 goals in 39 games (a rate of nearly 1 in every four games).
The 27 year old started his professional career with his hometown club, Sheffield United having joined them as a youth from Rotherham United in 2004. He joined Rushden and Diamonds on loan in January 2005, before moving to Scunthorpe United in 2005. During his time at Glanford Park, Sharp notched up an astonishing 53 goals from 82 games and the football world were soon beginning to take notice including his former club, Sheffield United who re-signed the striker in July 2007 for a fee of around £2 million. The goal-scoring prowess though dwindled and he was released by the club and put on the transfer list in July 2009. Sharp then signed a season long-loan with Championship club, Doncaster Rovers in September 2009 before joining them permanently in July 2010 for £1.15 million. Clarets fans may well remember this period with Brian Laws desperately trying to bring his former player at Scunthorpe to Turf Moor. In June 2010 though, Sharp rejected a move to Burnley despite the £1 million being accepted by United. It certainly felt like a snub since the club had only just been relegated from the top flight back then and looked to be a more attractive proposition than Doncaster Rovers. But we moved on and so eventually did Sharp to Southampton! It seemed quite a departure considering that up until then all his clubs had been based predominantly in Yorkshire. Could he now be tempted by a move back up North and this time welcome a chance to play for the Clarets? We may or may not be about to find out!
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