Burnley have sought UEFA dispensation to register another goalkeeper ahead of their Europa League clash against Aberdeen on Thursday, with Nick Pope having undergone an operation on his dislocated shoulder.
Manager Sean Dyche would not put a time frame on Pope’s recovery but the England man looks to be facing a lengthy period out.
With Tom Heaton expected to be sidelined for the second leg of the second-round qualifying clash after picking up a calf problem, Burnley could be left with Anders Lindegaard as their only available keeper.
Dyche could potentially look at signing another player ahead of the match but a more likely option would be to register their fourth keeper, Adam Legzdins, for the match.
Pope suffered the injury in only the 13th minute of the first leg in Aberdeen and he has now gone under the knife.
Dyche said: “He’s had the op. So far pleasing news in that the specialist was happy with what he found and what’s been done. I haven’t spoken to Popey yet today because he was still recovering but I’ll speak to him later.”
It is the second successive summer that Burnley have seen arguably their first-choice keeper dislocate a shoulder. Heaton was sidelined for more than six months after damaging his shoulder in the fourth match of last season against Crystal Palace.
Injury problems were the last thing Dyche needed as he battles to add to the squad that exceeded all expectations by finishing seventh in the Premier League last season.
The Clarets actually have a smaller squad having allowed Dean Marney and Scott Arfield to leave at the end of the last campaign, but Dyche is so far being priced out of the market.
He said: “It is broken record time. We’re a wealthy club of sorts but equally the club’s in a shape where it continues to look after not just year one, and that makes it tough, the books have to balance. The finance has to be there to do deals and it does limit the pool that you’re looking in.
“The numbers are just crazy, and they’re crazy for any player. It’s certainly a sellers’ market. We’re into a few situations. We’ve had one come and go that we thought was a done deal; it wasn’t.
“We’ve got another couple of deals that are pending and we think we’ve got a chance on but there’s no guarantees. We’re not a club that can make it guaranteed because we don’t just add and add until it hits the number.”
Dyche’s immediate focus will be on trying to progress in Burnley’s first European adventure for more than half a century after a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie last week.
He knows the Clarets will be expected to come through, and said: “If we get our performance levels right, we’ve shown we can certainly apply ourselves to the Premier League, which in turn means we should be at least able to supply a good performance that will get us the right result against Aberdeen.
“But there’s no guarantees, they’re a good side, I thought they did a really good job at their place.”
