BRENDAN Flood says Burnley will not pay large fees for players just because they are in the Premier League.

Reports have already connected the Clarets with a £6m offer for Reading striker Kevin Doyle, who is also being linked with Everton, but have denied that they have made any such bid.

And Flood, who is the club’s operational director, is wary of the dangers of making expensive mistakes in the transfer market - purely because they feel they have to spend to compete in the top flight.

“In an interview, Peter Coates (the Stoke chairman) said he felt they’d made a number of mistakes last season, like signing (Dave) Kitson for £5million,” said Flood.

“We’ve got to be careful not to make mistakes. I think you can get caught up in the noise of the Premier League and having to spend loads of money.”

The likes of Chris McCann and Chris Eagles were linked with moves away from Turf Moor in January and their role in Burnley’s promotion to the Premier League is only likely to increase interest from top flight clubs.

Flood has not ruled out selling players but knows that the club are now under less pressure to part with their stars.

He said: “Inevitably, if we were in the top half of the Premier League we’ll get bids for players, and you’ve got to be open minded and say ‘we might sell someone for £5million-plus, because that’s good business’, then buy another lad who’s as good as Chris McCann or Eagles for £1m from lower down. We’ve got to be prepared to do that.

“Automatically all the players are worth more because we’ve gone up, so we’ve got to say we might still sell players, but there won’t be a need to sell players next year.

“It will be a pure business decision if we did."