"Will make a difference" - Fulham praised for £25m Burnley transfer approach | OneFootball

FLW has been speaking with our Burnley fan pundit to discuss whether the reported fee of £25m is a fair price for Sander Berge.

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 have agreed to sell Norwegian international Sander Berge to Premier League side Fulham, that will see the Championship side bag a reported fee of £25 million for the midfielder.

The Clarets had always looked destined to lose the former Sheffield United man this summer, after their relegation from the Premier League last season, and now they look set to receive a significant cash injection for his exit.

Manchester United were reportedly one of the clubs interested in signing the box-to-box midfielder, but it appears that it is the Cottagers who have won the race for his signature.

Burnley told they should've held out for bigger Sander Berge transfer fee

FLW's Burnley fan pundit, Nathan Rogers, believes that although the Clarets could've held out for more money, the price being reported is a fair fee for a player who should be playing in the Premier League.

Rogers told Football League World: "Sander Berge going to Fulham is probably around the fee I was thinking in my head, sort of £20-25 million.

"I would've liked to see us hold out for a little bit more, but, we need to get this deal done as early in the transfer window as possible just to give us time to maybe replace him.

"I think the Manchester United links felt a bit far-fetched at the time, and I didn't really see him fitting into the United setup. I didn't think that was what they needed.

"But for him to make the move to Fulham, I think that's a really good move for him. He's going to suit their style of play, and he's going to slot right in, and I think he will make a difference to that team.

"And like I've said before, he deserves to be in the Premier League. He's a Premier League quality player, I had no expectations of him staying in the Championship just because of how good he was as a player.

"So, gutted he's gone, but happy to see us get a good chunk of money for him, and hopefully we can get it reinvested and look to replace him with another midfielder."

Losing Berge was something that Burnley and its supporters were fairly resigned to this summer, as he's proven with his performances that he can play at Premier League level.

An excellent ball-winning midfielder who always looks to keep it tidy in midfield, picking the right passes, whilst also posing an attacking threat that has to be accounted for.

The Norwegian international is not always the player that grabs the headlines and jumps off the screen, but for those who watch the games that he's involved in closely, Berge's impact is obvious.

His 65 aerial duals won placed him in the top 96.1 percentile of Premier League central midfielders last season, whilst his 202 recoveries and 1,964 touches ranked him in the top 95.3 and 90.7 percentiles respectively - per FotMob.

From a pure production perspective, however, the 26-year-old shouldn't be seen as irreplaceable to Burnley this summer, that is, if they have the time to source his replacement.

With one goal and two assists in 37 Premier League appearances during his debut season as a Burnley player in 2023/24, Berge probably wasn't as productive in the attacking department as he would've hoped.

So, whilst he will undoubtedly be a big loss to the Clarets in terms of what he offers aside from scoring and providing goals, his attacking output from last season is replaceable with the money the Clarets are set to receive.

And with Burnley still having an excellent defensive-minded central midfielder at Championship level in Josh Cullen, and one of the division's best box-to-box midfielders in Josh Brownhill, Parker has quality options to fall back on.

Therefore, bagging a significant fee for Berge should be seen as a good deal all round, handing Burnley a large boost to their war chest that could allow them to make some strong additions before the window closes.