BURNLEY have reportedly had a £125,000 bid rejected for Stoke City skipper Clive Clarke.

Clarets boss Steve Cotterill had been looking to make another raid on the Potteries following a series of swoops in the past six months for former City stars Ade Akinbiyi, Wayne Thomas and Gifton Noel-Williams.

However, Stoke have revealed that six figure bids from Turf Moor and Premiership new boys Sunderland have both been rejected for the Republic of Ireland international, who has begged for a move after not being offered a new contract at the Britannia Stadium.

Sunderland latched onto this by bidding £100,000 for City's longest serving player, who still has one year remaining on his contract but has vowed not to sign a new deal and leave for nothing next summer unless the club agree to his transfer demands.

Burnley, who have made five free transfer signings so far this summer, are reputed to have upped the ante by a further £25,000 for the left-sided defender/midfielder.

However, City chiefs, who rejected a £350,000 bid from Nottingham Forest for their long-serving captain just 12 months ago, believe the two bids still fall well short of their valuation of someone who has been a loyal servant since joining the club as a 16-year-old.

Director of football John Rudge revealed: "Obviously the new manager (Johan Boskamp) has got to assess the players, so we've turned down the offers from Burnley and Sunderland.

"Clive is an Irish International and the offers made are substantially less than the player is worth."

Dublin-born Clarke, who joined City as a trainee back in 1996, played under current Burnley boss Steve Cotterill during his brief spell in charge at Stoke in 2002.

Last summer the former U21 international received his first senior cap against Jamaica before chalking up his 250th appearance for the Potters during the 2004/05 season.

However earlier this week Clarke, who has also been linked with West Ham United and Ipswich Town, went public to launch a bitter broadside at the City board and demand a transfer.

The Dubliner said: "It's disappointing not to be offered a new deal. I've been loyal and given a lot of years so for them not to speak to me is disappointing, especially when they said they would speak to me at the end of last season.

"I am aware of interest from other clubs and if they (Stoke) give me the chance to advance my career I would like to talk to them to see if it would be the best thing for me.

"I want to push on and get into the Irish squad and I think if I got a move to a club with a higher profile and then have a good season, maybe it would help my international career."