BURNLEY remain in talks with out of contract pair George Boyd and Paul Robinson but the Clarets have released winger Michael Kightly and midfielder Joey Barton.

Boyd, 31, made 39 appearances for Burnley this season, scoring twice, while 37-year-old Robinson played three times but so far contracts are yet to be agreed with either player.

Kightly made five appearances in the Premier League for the Clarets in the first half of the season before joining Championship side Burton Albion in January while Barton, 34, officially leaves the club having not featured since the home defeat to Manchester United on April 23 due to his 18-month ban from football for betting offences.

Burnley boss Sean Dyche said: “Joey leaves us for the obvious reasons after he has again been a big part of what we have achieved this season.

“Equally, Kights has been a great servant of the club and always a tremendous person to have around the group.

“Both players have had a big effect on what we have done during their time at Turf Moor and we wish them well, as we do all those leaving this summer.”

Kightly initially joined Burnley on loan in 2013 before making the move permanent in January 2014. The wideman made 88 appearances for the Clarets in his four year stay and scored crucial goals at the end of the 2013-14 campaign against Blackpool and Wigan as the Clarets won promotion to the Premier League.

Barton moved to Turf Moor in August 2015 and impressed as the Clarets won the Championship title before he turned down a new contract at Burnley to join Rangers.

But he was back in East Lancashire a matter of months later and played 18 times for Burnley this season.

The Clarets have also released development quartet George Green, R J Pingling, Christian Hill and Taofiq Olmowewe but the club have taken up a one-year option on defenders Luke Hendrie, Alex Whitmore and Arlen Birch along with young goalkeeper Conor Mitchell.

Jon Flanagan has returned to Liverpool at the end of his loan spell while German forward Rouwen Hennings is set to return to Turf Moor following his loan spell with German second tier side Fortuna Dusseldorf. The 27-year-old has one year remaining on the Burnley deal he signed in 2015 when he joined for £3million from Karlsruher.

Burnley also welcome back Freddie Ulvestad, Chris Long, Tom Anderson and Aiden O'Neill back to Turf Moor after the quartet spent time on loan away from the club this season. All four are under contract for the 2017-18 campaign as are development squad players Ntumba Massanka, Josh Ginnelly and Brad Jackson who have also returned from loan spells.