Burnley FC: 2015 Sean Dyche signing was an utterly forgettable one - View | OneFootball

Norwegian midfielder Fredrik Ulvestad signed for Sean Dyche's top-flight Burnley in 2015, but the move wasn't successful in the slightest.

Sean Dyche regularly got it right in the transfer market during his 10 years in charge at Burnley. One that didn't go to plan, however, was the 2015 addition of Norwegian midfielder Fredrik Ulvestad.

Dyche, now boss of Premier League club Everton, had a hugely successful decade at Turf Moor, overseeing two promotions to the top-flight for his Clarets side, the second of which led to a prolonged stay at the highest level.

Not having the riches of their competitors, Burnley relied on Dyche being savvy with his recruitment, signing undervalued players cheaply to sell on at a profit while fitting the stylistic approach and identity the former Chesterfield and Watford defender had instilled.

Dyche made his Clarets side a physically fit, uncompromising one. Consistently carrying out the basics, while always offering a physical threat to their opponents, both in open play and from set-plays. Burnley became an efficient unit that often upset the footballing elite and looked at home in the Premier League.

The likes of Ben Mee, Chris Wood, Jay Rodriguez, Dwight McNeil and Josh Brownhill helped them achieve this, all identified and brought in for a comparatively low financial outlay and offering real consistency over the years.

However, for every Mee and Wood, there's an incoming player that doesn't settle as well, and that was definitely the case with Ulvestad.

Ulvestad arrived on a free transfer in 2015

Having made well over 100 appearances for top-flight side Aalesund in his native country, as well as breaking into the Norwegian national team, hopes were high that Dyche had pulled another rabbit out of the hat when he brought 23-year-old Ulvestad to Turf Moor nine years ago.

Joining the youth team at Aalesund in 2008, the battling midfield player went on to become a mainstay for the club's senior side, picking up a Norwegian Cup winners medal in 2011 in the process, as well as featuring in the subsequent qualifying rounds for the UEFA Europa League.

The engine room operator turned down the chance to stay with his hometown club when their domestic season finished in November 2014, however, eventually signing for Burnley in the spring of 2015.

Though the Norwegian fitted the profile of a Burnley player at that time, he failed to make an impact on the first-team, ultimately making just 10 appearances over what was a forgettable three-year stay in Lancashire, punctuated by a season-long loan with League One Charlton Athletic in 2016/17.

Ulvestad wasn't quite good enough for the Premier League

Ulvestad is a tidy footballer. A good all-round midfielder with a solid pedigree in the game. He lacked the required quality to make it in the Premier League, however, and left the Clarets permanently in 2018, to little fanfare or surprise from anyone.

The Aalesund-born man has gone on to have a very decent career in the game since, though, spending time with Swedish and Turkish top-flight sides Djurgårdens and Sivasspor respectively, (either side of a brief spell in China with Qingdao in 2021), featuring in European competition for both and winning the domestic league and cup with the former, and the Turkish Cup with the latter.

Now 32 years-of-age, Ulvestad has spent the last 18 months in Poland, playing for Ekstraklasa (Polish top-flight) club Pogón Szczecin.

Burnley is one everybody will want to forget.