Since we appointed a new coach with a brief to look at the international arena there have been a number of reported links in the media concerning players currently plying their trade in Continental Europe and much further afield including South America.
The latest to be mentioned this week is AZ Alkmaar captain Nemanja Gudelj. It would appear Burnley are prepared to offer as much as £8 million for the 23 year old Serbian international central midfielder. Gudel joined AZ from NAC Breda in the summer of 2013 for a fee of around ?3 million after agreeing a four-year contract. His father at the time was actually manager of NAC Breda so sold his own son to AK! The midfielder currently has nine senior caps for Serbia.
From Holland to er..Crewe next! It would appear we had a scout watching Crewe Alexandra’s young team struggling at the foot of the table remarkably beat League One leaders Bristol City 1-0 on Saturday at Gresty Road. The scout though, by all accounts had his eyes on two of Crewe`s players. Teenager George Cooper (pictured above)has been making an impression for Crewe this season and when the 18 year old came on from the bench against Bristol City he helped set up their winning goal. The midfielder has been making regular first-team appearances for Steve Davis’ struggling senior side since September and has also scored twice for the Railwaymen. He is thought to have great potential and looks likely to be a future Premier League player. Also being checked out apparently was on-loan left back, Greg Leigh. The England U19 international is on loan from Manchester City but has yet to make his debut for his parent club. The 20 year old joined Crewe on loan in August 2014 until early January 2015 and made his debut in the Capital One Cup game against Barnsley. Since that time he has played in ten games for the Railwaymen.
Meanwhile the Danny Ings saga continues with the Times reporting that the in-form striker will reject a January move to Tottenham. The paper goes on to state that the striker has made it clear that he will not leave Burnley until the end of his contract next summer when the north London club are likely to face stiff competition for his signature. The 22-year-old is out of contract in the summer but Sean Dyche is convinced there is no chance of the club cashing in their prize asset echoing the recent statement from co-chairman, Mike Garlick that Ings will still be a Burnley player come 1st February.
‘[I have] no concerns whatsoever. I’ve been asked that question for the last two years. The chairmen [Mike Garlick and John Banaszkiewicz] have come out and said he’s going nowhere and I’m happy with that as a manager, said Dyche
‘We have open dialogue with him and his agent. It’s just the reality of the situation. The club have made it quite clear how much they value the players we’ve got and we’re in a good position cash-wise because we haven’t spent a lot of money.
‘If anything, we’re thinking about adding to the squad.”
It looks like that as well as Spurs, Sunderland, Newcastle and Ajax are all going to have to bide their time.
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