"Push for £25-£30m" - Burnley told to stand firm as Chelsea and Newcastle United circle | OneFootball

Highlights

'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Having recently been relegated from the Premier League, Burnley could be in for another transitional summer.

In the dugout, it has become pretty clear-cut that Vincent Kompany looks set to depart Turf Moor to take the well-documented vacancy at Bayern Munich after Thomas Tuchel's departure from the Bavarian giants.

However, the Clarets could also make a significant amount of profit on some high-profile names following their return to the Championship.

James Trafford price tag verdict issued amid Premier League links

One of those players comes in the form of England goalkeeper James Trafford, who has recently been called up to Gareth Southgate's 33-man 'provisional' squad, ahead of the final warm-up fixtures against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland before UEFA EURO 2024.

Alan Nixon via Patreon broke the news that Chelsea are readying a £20m bid for Trafford's signature and see him as a long-term number one, despite a difficult season for him and Burnley overall.

This transfer would fit Chelsea's recent philosophy of signing promising youngsters, and the report claims that sources close to the deal believe the West London side are ahead of Newcastle in that particular race.

Additionally, reports from BBC Sport claim that Manchester City have a 20% sell-on clause in any deal that would see Trafford leave the North West.

Despite enduring a difficult maiden Premier League season with Burnley after joining from Manchester City, interest in the 21-year-old who signed a four-year deal just under a year ago means the Clarets could demand an even greater fee than the £20m Chelsea are looking to pay.

This is the viewpoint of FLW's Burnley fan pundit, Ben Livingstone, who stated that many supporters believed that any finances coming in through Trafford would've made a loss on his initial transfer.

"We signed him for £14m in the summer and I don't think any add-ons would've activated which would take it up to £19m," he began. "So you're talking £14m, and a lot of fans weren't expecting to get the money back that we'd paid for him, and it's now looking like we'll get more than that."

"As we've seen, Chelsea are snooping round and Newcastle are looking for another goalkeeper - you're talking for a 21-year-old England international - although he probably won't make the final squad, which is fair enough considering he's not even Burnley's number one keeper, especially in the second half of the season where he played a limited number of games," he added.

"I think if the bids are starting at £20m, then you've got to push for £25-30m," Livingstone claimed.

"You're talking about a young, English goalkeeper. I think we'd like to keep him next season - there will definitely be one out of the two - (Arijanet)Muric and Trafford - that leaves, maybe even both.

"Obviously, Trafford is going to demand a higher fee. He's English and young as I said, whereas Muric is 25 and from Kosovo, so it's one of them. He's a top, top keeper is Muric."

Livingstone concluded: "I do like Trafford, don't get me wrong, but I think if you get £25-£30m then you can't say no to that!"

Burnley must keep Muric if they sell Trafford

With it being unclear as to who will be in the Turf Moor dugout next season, it's difficult to see where a potential sale of Trafford would leave Burnley.

A greater fee would give any manager more room to rebuild a squad capable of earning promotion once again, but given the keeper's previous success in the EFL whilst on loan at Bolton Wanderers, perhaps the Championship is middle ground for him at present.