BURNLEY are to invest in signing youngsters for the development squad for the next five seasons.

Chairman Mike Garlick revealed the club are using some of the Premier League cash to boost their youth ranks.

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Five new additions arrived this summer, Renny Smith from Arsenal, Dan Agyei from AFC Wimbledon, Luke Hendrie from Derby, Arlen Birch from Everton and Shrewsbury winger Josh Ginnelly.

And Garlick said it was part of a new long-term strategy by the Clarets to bring more young players through to the first team, having been disappointed with the number making the step-up in the past decade.

"The club has ring-fenced a sum of money for the next five years, so that every year we can add to the development squad and bring it up to the quality deemed necessary," he said.

"The Premier League windfall has enabled us to plan for the future, rather than just fighting over scraps every year and wondering where the next penny is coming from.

"It is a definite benefit of our legacy of the Premier League season and it’s about quality, rather than quantity because with the development squad, we want to make sure that some of those players progress to the first team.

"If we are honest with ourselves, over the last 10 to 15 years not enough of that has happened."