Dyche: I feel pinch
SEAN FEARS REALITY OF BIG CLUBS NICKING DWIGHT & POPE
SEAN DYCHE accepts that he will struggle to hold on to two of his most prized assets during the next transfer window.
With goalkeeper Nick Pope reportedly on Chelsea’s radar and winger Dwight McNeil interesting Everton, the Burnley manager says it’s just a fact of life at Turf Moor that bigger clubs will always be looking at his best players.
England international Pope is vying for the Premier League’s Golden Glove award with Manchester City’s Ederson.
Both are on 15 clean sheets going into the final day with Pope hoping he can keep Brighton at bay and that alreadyrelegated Norwich can find the net against City.
McNeil, 20, has starred on the left side during this campaign with his form even rumoured to have had Manchester United considering bringing him back to Old Trafford, having released him as a teenager.
Dyche accepts Burnley’s financial status means his stars will always be tempted away.
He said: “It’s not fear, it is reality.
When you have players of real calibre there is the reality that people start looking at them and therefore make a phone call to the chairman. It’s the way the market is.”
In terms of strengthening ahead of the September 12 start date for next season, Dyche (below) remained coy. “We don’t look at it like, how many we need? There is no point saying, ‘We need this number of players,’ because that’s not going to happen. “It’s more a case of what the market has to offer.
“We have to look at the whole thing rather than cherry picking four or five players.” A win over Brighton will guarantee Burnley finish ahead of Arsenal and should Sheffield United also drop points at Southampton, the Clarets will leapfrog Chris Wilder’s outfit into eighth.
Considering they avoided relegation by just six points last season – ending up in 15th – that is quite some progress.
“We’ve raised the bar,” said Dyche. “We call it raising the minimum. Your maximum looks after itself.
“If you’re a good footballer, when you’re at maximum you are still going to be a very good footballer.
“What about raising the quiet days? How can we raise the quiet days? How can we raise each individual on the quiet day when it’s not quite working?
“We’ve got five or six now out of the main group who have been playing and raised their quiet days, that allows us to push forward a bit more.”