KIERAN Trippier insists Burnley do not need to make big money signings to succeed in the Premier League – after the Clarets dismissed reports of an £8m bid for Troy Deeney.

Burnley had a bid rejected for the Watford striker earlier in the summer but the money involved was some way short of the £7.5m offer that Leicester City saw turned down this week.

Reports on Wednesday night claimed that Burnley had upped their bid to £8m but the Clarets have denied making a further offer.

It is thought that they were priced out of any potential move several weeks ago and that fellow promoted side QPR may have been the club who made the latest bid, which was again rejected by Watford.

Like QPR, Leicester have been willing to splash the cash this summer and broke their transfer record this week to sign Argentinian Leonardo Ulloa from Brighton, in a deal that could rise to £10m.

But Burnley boss Sean Dyche has stressed that he would not break the bank on a big money signing this summer and risk upsetting the harmony of his Clarets squad.

Dyche has brought in Matt Taylor, Steven Reid and Matt Gilks on free transfers, paying only £1.5m for Lukas Jutkiewicz and Michael Kightly, and an initial £600,000 for Marvin Sordell.

Right back Trippier is in agreement with the Clarets’ recruitment policy.

“Look at last year and all the teams that were spending in the Championship,” Trippier said.

“We got nearly every player on a free transfer and what free transfers they were. Scotty Arfield for instance was unbelievable, he could have been player of the year.

“It’s no different this year, obviously Leicester are spending £8m or £10m on strikers but we’ve got Jukesy (Jutkiewicz) who was brilliant the other day in Austria, we’ve got Marvin, Ashley Barnes, Sam Vokes, Danny Ings, it is a lot of competition, we’ve got some strike force.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re going to spend £20m on a striker or get one on a free. It just doesn’t matter.

“As long as we have the togetherness and the family team that we’ve got, it’s better than anything.”

Burnley gained promotion against all expectations last season and Trippier wants to prove everyone wrong again – starting from their opening game at home to Chelsea on August 18.

The 23-year-old insists the squad have returned to pre-season in even better shape than a year ago, when they became known as one of the fittest teams in the Championship.

Trippier said: “The first day we came back all the players were looking leaner – much, much fitter than last year, the training is frightening.

“Obviously everyone knew we were in the Premier League so they’ve come back sharper, leaner and fitter. Everyone is raring to go for the first game.

“We’re going to be written off just like we were last year in the Championship but we’ve got a really good squad here.

“Some really good players have come in, experienced players like Steven Reid, Matt Taylor and Matt Gilks. They’ve been there, and Duffo (Michael Duff) has been there and knows what it’s all about.

“As a young lad I can only learn from them. We just want to take it game by game and see where we end up.”