"Too many wingers" - Burnley warned against Crystal Palace transfer pursuit | OneFootball

Burnley are among the Championship suitors in for Crystal Palace's Jesurun Rak-Sakyi

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Burnley are among a range of Championship clubs reportedly pursuing a loan deal for Crystal Palace's highly-rated prospect Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, although a deal may not stack up given the number of wingers at Scott Parker's disposal.

According to a recent update from Sky Sports News, the Clarets are in a three-way second-tier race for Rak-Sakyi's services with Sheffield United and Leeds United - both of whom could well prove potential promotion rivals in the upcoming 2024/25 Championship campaign.

The reveal adds that newly-promoted Premier League side Southampton remain locked in negotiations pertaining to a permanent deal either now or next summer, while Anderlecht are reported to be interested alongside Lyon, who share the same part-owner as the Eagles in the form of John Textor.

Rak-Sakyi looks set to leave Selhurst Park this summer, having been kept around the fringes of the first-team squad last season after enjoying a fruitful 2022/23 loan spell with Charlton Athletic in League One.

Burnley warned against signing Crystal Palace winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi

Despite lauding Rak-Sakyi's talents, Football League World's Burnley fan pundit Ben Livingstone believes the club should opt against brokering a deal for the forward given their abundance of current options in wide areas.

"I'm a big fan of Rak-Sakyi but I think we've got far too many wingers and it's going to be hard to see him coming unless there are some serious outgoings," Ben told FLW.

"I'm a big fan of him though, I really really like him. To be honest, I thought he'd be around Palace's first-team this season but they obviously want to give him a year in the Championship to see what he can do there rather than making the jump from Charlton.

"He was fantastic at Charlton - a top, top player. I'd like to see him come but I just don't think he'd get the game time to warrant him being worthwhile coming.

"Some other big sides in the Championship are after him so he's not going to be short of options, I'm surprised Palace aren't keeping him.

"There's far too many wingers at the minute, we need to get rid of wingers as it is, not bring more in."

Scott Parker must sanction Burnley sales if Jesurun Rak-Sakyi is to be pursued

Going into the Championship, one can look at Burnley's stable of wide options and consider them fortunate to possess so much strength in depth.

Young duo Luca Koleosho and Wilson Odobert - the latter of whom has been subjected to interest from Ipswich Town - could quite easily light up the second-tier just as Manuel Benson and Anass Zaroury did in their title-winning 22/23 campaign under Vincent Kompany.

They're four high-quality wingers who would be a shoo-in for the vast majority of Championship sides, yet that's without even mentioning Burnley still have Mike Tresor, Darko Churlinov, Scott Twine, Johan Berg Gudmundsson and Nathan Redmond all waiting in the wings. It does make you wonder where Rak-Sakyi would figure in Parker's thinking, that's for sure.

Parker should really accept any forthcoming advances for Churlinov and Twine could be set for a Bristol City return if their ongoing pursuit of Robins contract rebel Tommy Conway comes to fruition as a sweetener for Liam Manning's side - even then, though, they'll still be overloaded out wide.

It may be difficult to part ways with Redmond, who only moved to Turf Moor last year and flattered to deceive in the top-flight but will be poised to exert his experience and know-how on the Championship once again.

The same can quite easily be said for Gudmundsson, and he's been a trusty stalwart over the years after arriving from Charlton all the way back in 2016.

Tresor, meanwhile, technically signed this summer following the obligation to purchase clause in his loan deal from Gent - so they're hardly going to force him out of the door just yet.

All of this means Ben is perfectly justified in saying it's hard to realistically imagine a deal being struck for Rak-Sakyi.

He's simply too good to be spending even more time in his young career sat on the bench - especially when many Championship suitors would give him a key role - and Palace will be equally unwilling to send him out to a club where he may not be afforded the sufficient match minutes required to progress his own development.