Clarets make move for West Brom pair
Back in April, reporting on speculation elsewhere, there were strong suggestions that we might be looking to raid West Bromwich Albion for three of their players. The suggestions had come from the West Midlands and from sources close to the relegated club.
One of those three players, and the one that at the time looked the least likely to be of interest, was Matt Phillips, but there was every reason to suggest there might be more than a little something in the other two, defender Craig Dawson and forward Jay Rodriguez.
Dawson has been linked with us almost on a regular basis since we first tried to sign him in the 2014 summer transfer window. For some time it looked as though the former Rochdale defender would be on his way to Turf Moor but eventually he signed a new deal with West Brom.
There have been links with him since, most windows in fact, although, to be fair, there has not been anything like as much written about him as there was of such as Andrew Driver and Derek Riordan in the Coyle era.
Now 28, he’s been a regular in the West Brom side. Last season he started 28 Premier League games for them in a difficult season and was considered to have been their best defender. Local reporters believe he would be missed far more than Jonny Evans who signed for Leicester last week.
Rodriguez. I think we know quite a bit about him. There were strong links with him a year ago when he moved from Southampton to West Brom and he had a decent season in a struggling side, scoring seven times for them in the Premier League to add to the 26 Premier League goals he scored in five years at Southampton.
He first got a regular place in the team following relegation from the Premier League in 2010 and, once in, was never left out other than for injury. Any return for Jay would certainly be a popular one with the supporters; that we saw very clearly during our 2-1 win at the Hawthorns in March.
The story, which surfaced last night, reported that we had made a £25 million bid for the pair and wanted a quick answer with Sean Dyche keen to get his squad settled quickly this year given the early start in the Europa League.
The news has certainly spread quickly today and there is every reason to suggest that this is beyond any speculation and that Burnley have made their move to bring the pair to Turf Moor.
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