BURNLEY chairman Barry Kilby insists that contract talks with Steve Cotterill are "ongoing" despite the rumblings over Ade Akinbiyi's Turf Moor future.

No news is good news for Turf Moor chiefs as Championship rivals Sheffield United today continued to weigh up their options after seeing their initial £1m-plus bid for the 14-goal striker turned down.

Blades boss Neil Warnock has already confirmed that several offers have been lodged for a number of strikers, including Cardiff teenager Cameron Jerome and also thought to include West Brom's Geoff Horsfield.

However, I understand further contact was made between United and Burnley officials yesterday, albeit with no increased offer - as yet!

And as the uncertainty continues, there worryingly appears to have been little headway made either in negotiations over a new deal for Cotterill, who has just under 18-months left on his existing three-year contract.

Kilby, who first revealed contract talks had begun last November, revealed: "I saw Steve again earlier this week, but it is an ongoing process. One of the difficulties is looking way into the future and it's not easy to look 18 months down the line.

"We have time to see how things shape up, but it is a negotiation process, there is no urgency and the best way I can describe the current situation is that we have been in discussions."

Despite Kilby's reassurances, however, the lack of any movement on that important issue of security is sure to concern all Burnley fans.

Cotterill must surely be worried by the current saga surrounding star striker Akinbiyi and the lack of funds to strengthen his lightweight squad, despite raising almost £3million in the last year from the sales of Robbie Blake, Richard Chaplow and Ian Moore.

Akinbiyi was seen as one of the integral building blocks around which Cotterill had hoped to assemble a promotion-challenging side.

And any deal struck with the Blades could now prove to be a major obstacle in securing the manager's long-term future.