BLACKBURN Rovers boss Owen Coyle has confirmed that the club has turned down an offer from Brighton and Hove Albion for centre-half Shane Duffy.

As the Lancashire Telegraph reported, rumours surfaced on the south coast yesterday that the Seagulls had submitted a £3million bid for the 24-year-old Republic of Ireland defender.

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Coyle, who lost captain Grant Hanley to Newcastle for £5.5m last week, said: “I think the story was released from Brighton saying that they’d made that offer, which was turned down, which it was.

“That is 100 per cent the truth of it.

“Over the course of the pre-season there’s been offers for players and they’ve been turned down; three or four from Grant and then the final one, the owners accepted that.

“The bottom line, and as I’ve said from day one, is we don’t want to be losing any players.

“I totally understand when players have a year of their contract to go and obviously that’s something I’ve inherited. I’ve come into that and that’s just the situation it is.

“You deal with that as best as you can . I’ve told the players I want them here, I want the Duffys and the Marshalls to continue to play at the club for many years to come.

“Ultimately that’s where we are and we’ll see what the transfer window brings.”