PORT Vale are to ask Burnley to name their price for Glen Little.

The First Division club have had a £750,000 bid for the winger rejected.

But they aren't ready yet to throw in the towel in their chase for the Clarets' star.

And they will ask Burnley to come up with a figure for the 23-year-old as manager John Rudge continues his search for a replacement for Gareth Ainsworth.

Rudge said: "We are still keen on the player and it's now a case of our chairman speaking with their chairman to see what they would consider a good fee."

It appears the only way Burnley would consider selling Little is if a Premiership club came in with a major seven-figure offer and the player was keen to try his luck at the highest level.

Vale would therefore be better off looking elsewhere to replace Ainsworth who they recently sold to Wimbledon for £2 million.

But they are having a last go to land Little who is one of the Second Division's outstanding players.

And in the unlikely event that Burnley put a figure on Little, rather than just slap a "hands-off" notice on the player, Vale will know whether they can match the fee or whether to accept that he is out of their price-range.

Meanwhile, former Burnley ace Damian Matthew is on the road to recovery after a major operation which put his Northampton Town career on hold virtually before it had started.

Matthew moved from Burnley to the Cobblers under the Bosman ruling in the summer.

But after just two games for his new club he was hit by back trouble which ultimately required surgery to shave part of a damaged disc.

"It was an on-going problem and each time I tried to come back something was niggling away.

"Finally I said I wanted to have a scan and I'm glad it showed up, even though it was a major operation," the midfielder explained.

After six weeks rest and physiotherapy, Matthew started his rehabilitation programme this week and plans to return to contact training in the New year.

"It will be a wasted six months but the back feels so much better and hopefully I will come back fitter and stronger than ever," he added.

"It's been very disappointing. I was looking forward to it and I had a really good pre-season but that's the way things have gone at the club this year. We have had eight major operations."

The Cobblers are three places below Burnley in the relegation zone but Matthew insists he has no regrets about the switch to the Sixfields Stadium, saying he was keen for a fresh start and some added security for his family.

That has recently been added to with the birth of daughter Antonia who arrived the day before Matthew went into hospital himself.

And spending time with the new baby has been a consolation to the former Chelsea and Crystal Palace man who hopes to be back at Turf Moor in a watching brief for Northampton's visit just before Christmas.

Burnley were due to find out at tea-time today who they will play in the second round of the FA Cup -- provided they beat Darlington in their re-arranged tie next Tuesday.

The draw was set to place live on satellite television at around 5.15pm.

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