Birmingham and Stoke join Bristol City in Burnley player pursuit | OneFootball

Burnley defender Luke McNally is attracting interest from a few clubs in the EFL.

Burnley defender Luke McNally is attracting transfer interest from Championship clubs Stoke City and Bristol City, as well as League One side Birmingham City.

A Turf Moor exit is a real possibility for the centre-back this summer, with under a month of the transfer window remaining.

Luke McNally transfer latest

That's according to Pete O'Rourke via Football Insider, who has reported that the 24-year-old defender is not short of potential suitors this summer.

Burnley are ready to listen to offers for the Irishman, as they are currently overloaded with options at centre-back, and new boss Scott Parker will be more than happy to trim the squad as he prepares for his first season in charge at Turf Moor.

Stoke took McNally on loan last season, and he became a key player for the Potters, playing the full 90 minutes in the final 10 games of the season under Steven Schumacher, so it is no surprise that they are interested in a permanent deal.

Bristol City will provide competition for his signature, while Birmingham will hope that they can convince the defender to drop into League One and become part of the project at St Andrew's.

McNally is a good defender at Championship level

McNally has spent the last two seasons in the Championship after signing for Burnley from Oxford United in 2022. He rarely featured for the Clarets during the first half of the 2022/23 campaign, before joining Coventry City on loan midway through that season, where he helped the Sky Blues reach the play-off final at Wembley and made a name for himself in the second tier.

Last summer, following Burnley's promotion to the Premier League, he joined Stoke on loan ahead of the 2023/24 season. He was named on the bench for the first two Championship games, before he broke into the side and became a regular starter, making 41 appearances in all competitions for the club over the course of his loan spell.

The 24-year-old has experience playing on the right-hand side of back-three and in a back-four, with his defensive awareness and ability to win duels making him a solid defensive option. His aerial ability also makes him useful in both boxes, and his threat from attacking set-pieces has helped him score 16 goals during his career, including two last season for Stoke.

Stoke and Bristol City will hope that the prospect of continuing to play Championship football can make them more appealing options than Birmingham, despite the potential and ambition that the League One side have shown during the summer transfer window.

McNally will have a decision to make before the end of the transfer window

Burnley signed McNally for £2 million when they bought him from Oxford in 2022, and they will likely want to recoup that sum at the very least if he is sold this summer. All three interested clubs are capable of paying that amount, while Bristol City are exploring a potential swap deal that could see Tommy Conway sign for Burnley in exchange for Scott Twine and McNally heading in the opposite direction.

Considering that Bristol City played in a back-three under Liam Manning at the end of last season, they could do with another option at centre-back. Meanwhile, Stoke and Birmingham are short of options in the centre of defence, so McNally would feel confident that he could secure a starting spot at any of the interested clubs.

It will be interesting to see where the defender ends up, as he could be tempted to return to Stoke where he will be able to settle in quickly, but if the swap deal is agreed with Bristol City, then Burnley may try to convince him that it is the right move. Considering a few of the signings that Birmingham have pulled off this summer, they cannot be completely written off either despite playing in a lower division.

Whoever secures McNally's signature, they will be delighted that they have acquired a solid defender who still has time to develop further.