Arfield and Boyd in demand
It seems that there are an ever growing number of clubs interested in taking Scott Arfield and George Boyd off our hands with Aston Villa, Derby County, Fulham, Hull City and West Bromwich Albion the latest to be linked with our players.
The situation with the two players is, of course, very different. Arfield is under contract at Burnley until the end of next season and so any potential move for him would require a buying club to agree a fee with us, that’s if we were interested in letting him go.
It’s a different matter with Boyd. He’s out of contract with speculation suggesting that he’s been offered a one year contract at Burnley, with an option for a second, but is looking for a longer term deal. Should he decide to move on, that would be his choice.
A couple of clubs had been linked with Arfield but this week came three more with Premier League West Brom keen along with Championship clubs Fulham and Hull. Tony Pulis has, apparently, targeted him as a £2.5 million replacement for Darren Fletcher who has moved on to Stoke.
Reports on Humberside linking him with Hull suggest that Sean Dyche would be reluctant to sell a player who ended the season very much a first choice at Burnley. Even if we were wanting to sell him, not for a minute do I think we’d be allowing him to leave the building for £2.5 million.
With Boyd, however, it does look increasingly likely that he might have played his last game for us. Certainly there is no news coming out of Turf Moor that he’s close to signing a new deal and the speculation continues that he is looking to move on.
While the Derby Telegraph have him as a reported target for the Rams, the Villa speculation is far more intriguing. Steve Bruce, the Villa manager, signed Boyd for Hull and said some very positive things about him when he sold him to Burnley. At the time he admitted he would have liked to have kept him but couldn’t guarantee him first team football.
Boyd arrived at Burnley on the same day as loan signings Nathaniel Chalobah and Michael Keane. He went straight into the team at Crystal Palace for the injured Matt Taylor and has been a regular first team starter ever since in almost three years at Burnley.
Press reports this morning though suggest Villa wanted him in January but missed out when Boyd decided to stay at Turf Moor. Given that the Robbie Brady deal didn’t go through until the eleventh hour, I’d be amazed if we’d have even considered letting Boyd go then. Now though, I think Villa is a likely option for Boyd should he decide to move on.
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