Burnley set to sign defender amid Tarkowski exit rumours

James Holland
Nathan Collins Burnley F365

Burnley seem to be planning for the potential exit of James Tarkowski by securing a deal for Nathan Collins.

The Clarets have rejected plenty of advances for Tarkowski in recent months, most notably from Leicester City and West Ham.

Leicester are planning to return with a new bid this summer, forcing Burnley into preparatory action.


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According to The Telegraph’s John Percy, Burnley have agreed a fee with Stoke City for the signing of centre-back Collins.

They will pay around £12million for his services after having multiple bids rejected during the January transfer window.

Burnley will now attempt to agree personal terms with the promising 20-year-old. Should that go ahead, he will be announced as a Clarets man in the coming weeks.

Collins made 22 league appearances for Stoke in the recent campaign, scoring two goals.

He represents the Republic of Ireland at U21 level and has the potential to become a Premier League regular.

However, he will have big boots to fill in Tarkowski. The 28-year-old has been solid at the back alongside Ben Mee in recent seasons.

Their impressive displays have played an important part in Burnley avoiding relegation for the last five seasons.

Despite a lack of financial backing, Sean Dyche even took them to seventh place in 2017/18.

The capture of Collins will represent the first time Burnley have spent over £10million on a player in two years.

Last summer, the only time they spent any money was on Dale Stephens, who joined from Brighton for £750,000.

Dyche has been frank about the owners and their ability to spend big in the past.

The Englishman said in April: “I think it’s fair to say you can tell by the funding that was put in that they weren’t really trying to stretch the club to try to build. It was more a case of, ‘Can we stay in there? If we can, that’s great news’.

“Now, I’ll wait and see, but certainly the noise Alan Pace and his team are all offering (is) the idea of attempting to move things forward. The reason I say attempting is because it’s small steps.

“It’s very difficult when you’re a club like Burnley to make huge strides in one go. We’ve all seen clubs that have attempted to do that and it doesn’t always work out.

“There are clubs who have had new owners or backers who have put in £100million straight off the bat and it just hasn’t worked. I think the correct thing to do is slowly add on, keep layering up and try to move forwards.”