BURNLEY manager Sean Dyche will aim to strengthen his midfield options further as he looks to confirm striker Patrick Bamford’s loan switch in the next 24 hours.


The 22-year-old Chelsea forward will move to Turf Moor on a season-long deal after the two clubs, who met on Saturday in a Premier League clash Clarets lost 3-0, agreed to let the former England Under-21 international leave Stamford Bridge for the rest of the campaign.


Bamford will provide much-needed cover and competition for first-choice striker pair Andre Gray and Sam Vokes, who endured a frustrating afternoon in west London following their goalscoring deeds the weekend before against Liverpool.


But it is in the middle of the pitch that Dyche needs to add some more options after seeing his side overrun by Antonio Conte’s rampant table-toppers at Stamford Bridge.


Burnley ended the game with 18-year-old Aiden O’Neill and centre-back James Tarkowski as their central midfielder pairing, which highlighted the manager’s main area for concern.


But Dyche explained it is difficult to get the deals done, although Dale Stephens’ switch from Brighton and Hove Albion is still believed to be alive heading towards Wednesday’s transfer deadline.


The Clarets boss said: “It’s not a message to the board, it’s a reality of where we are at as a club in a tough market.


“Its not just us saying it’s a tough market, I’m hearing managers across the board say that.


“But clubs like this can work beyond the tough market and keep paying.
“We’re simply in a position where it’s just not that easy to do.”


Bamford will arrive having never played a senior game for Chelsea, but with plenty of experience during loan spells last season with Norwich and Crystal Palace, and before that in the Championship with Middlesbrough and Derby County.


Dyche said: “Patrick is close. It’s just a few i’s getting dotted and t’s getting crossed.


“There are a number of other things closer too, but we still have to get them over the line, so we’ll wait and see.”


Bamford started his career as an eight-year-old with the Nottingham Forest academy and moved to Chelsea in a £1.5million deal in January 2012.


But he has failed to find a way into the mega-bucks first team at Stamford Bridge and has instead been loaned numerous times.


His spell at Boro was his most successful and he scored the first goal in the 2-0 FA Cup fourth round win over Manchester City in January last year.