Burnley are ‘leading the race’ to sign Rotherham United’s Ben Wiles with Oxford defender Luke McNally also on his way to the Championship club, as reported by Lancs Live.
While a lot has changed at Turf Moor in recent months – from their league status to the faces in the dugout – some things just stay the same.
The Clarets have been linked with a whole host of Belgium-based players since appointing Vincent Kompany as Sean Dyche’s successor. But the first few signings of a new era in Lancashire feel distinctly reminiscent of the old one. Typical of a club who made homegrown, British-born players the cornerstone of their success during Dyche’s coupon-busting, Europa League-chasing heyday.
Burnley want Ben Wiles and Luke McNally
Burnley snapped up Scott Twine from MK Dons over the weekend. The set-piece specialist, who scored 20 goals from attacking midfield last season while earning League One’s Player of the Season award, sets the club back around £5 million (The Sun).
Wiles, like Twine, appears to have outgrown the League One pond. With Burnley leading the chase to sign Rotherham’s 23-year-old playmaker, he will soon be given the opportunity to show that he can swim in choppier waters.
Wiles, who is entering the final 12 months of his contract, is expected to cost a seven-figure sum. As is Luke McNally; An ‘absolute machine’ of a centre-half who will set Burnley back a further £1.6 million (Irish Independent).
McNally, who has already been the subject of two failed Burnley bids, is likely to form a new-look defensive partnership with Nathan Collins. This follows the departures of long-serving duo Ben Mee and James Tarkowski.
While McNally’s job will be to stop the goals going in, Rotherham-born Wiles will be tasked with doing precisely the opposite. He found the net ten times – including a long-range rocket in the Papa John’s Trophy final – while providing a further seven assists for the Millers in 2021/22, and should add some creativity and guile to a hard-working Burnley midfield.
The Clarets have seen a deal to sign Arsenal’s Dan Ballard fall through. Kompany, meanwhile, has played down the prospect of luring Josh Cullen, Majeed Ashimeru and Michael Amir Murillo from former employers Anderlecht.
Wout Weghorst, meanwhile, has agreed a move to Besiktas.
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