COSTLY GRAY IS A GOOD FIT FOR BURNLEY
IS £9 million too much for Andre Gray? Undoubtedly. But with all that Premier League cash in their coffers, I think it’s a risk worth taking for Sean Dyche and Burnley.
I used to watch Andre for Luton two years ago and if you’d said to me then ‘He’ll be a £9m player’, I wouldn’t even have put a fiver on it.
That’s nothing against him, because he was clearly a cut above the Conference. He’s a natural finisher who plays on the shoulder and does everything a centreforward should. Scoring 18 goals for Brentford last year proves it.
But £9m for a player with one season in the Championship is still a crazy figure and I hope it doesn’t weigh heavy on his shoulders.
That said, Burnley were obviously desperate for someone to replace Danny Ings, who joined Liverpool in the summer after 43 goals in 138 games for the Clarets.
And when you consider they didn’t spend any money during last year’s stay in the top flight, it’s a transfer they can comfortably afford.
More importantly, it makes sense.
Andre is someone who you know will score enough goals in the Championship to earn a shot at promotion. And, like Callum Wilson at Bournemouth, he has the kind of attributes that should translate well to playing in the Premier League.