STEVE Cotterill has backed Ade Akinbiyi to make the Clarets stronger.

The strapping striker returned to Turf Moor this week in a deal worth £750,000, less than 12 months after joining Premiership side Sheffield United.

Manager Cotterill feels his squad has grown in strength and depth in the last year and is confident Akinbiyi's return can take the Clarets onto the next level.

"It was no coincidence that when Ade left we fell apart," the Burnley boss said. "This time when he comes back it doesn't all centre around Ade.

"He's going to come back to a team higher up the league, a team that's played better this year, so Ade probably won't be the focus that he was before.

"Having said that, if he does become the focus, coupled with the other players we've got here, then hopefully that will make us a better team."

Akinbiyi could play the first game of his second spell with the Clarets in their FA Cup third round tie at Reading today, although there were question marks about the level of his match fitness as the 32-year-old made only 12 league starts for the Blades.

"He hasn't played much and there are two ways of looking at that. One's a bonus because he'll have plenty of matches in him, secondly he's going to need a bit of time to settle back in," Cotterill said.

"He's been away - we don't know where he is fitness wise at the moment, we don't know match wise where he's going to be at the moment, we don't know where he is confidence wise at the moment, but in the next few weeks we'll get a good guage of that and in those weeks - wherever he is fitness wise, match wise, confidence wise - hopefully that will only get better.

"I'm pleased to have Ade back because it's given us competition and he is different to the others.

"With Andy Gray, while he runs the channels effectively he always runs in behind players.

"Him, Kyle Lafferty and Gifton Noel-Williams are pretty much the same in that respect. But Ade is a different one as he runs in the back of defences and causes them problems that way.

"His strength is second to none.

"If you take a game like Derby County, where Kyle Lafferty is running on empty after about 60 minutes and has got to try to shove Dean Leacock and Darren Moore around, he can't do it. He hasn't got the strength, in a one versus one situation, to muscle his way through there. I think Ade would."

Cotterill added that he hopes Clarets fans are equally excited by Akinbiyi's return.

"I hope it would lift the supporters. We know what he was like before and I think that's probably the anticipation.

"He may start with a bang or he will start slowly. We don't know the answer to that.

"But it's not like he has got anything to prove, he will know that straight away with the reception he is going to get at Turf Moor.

"That will probably be a big lift for him."