Burnley’s hopes of signing transfer target Joe Worrall from Nottingham Forest appear to be fading, with the two clubs appearing rather distant on their respective valuations of the defender.
On Sunday, journalist Alan Nixon tweeted (via @reluctantnicko) that the Clarets are willing to spend no more than £4m on the 23-year-old. That doesn’t even meet the halfway mark of the Championship club’s asking price for the centre-back, with Nixon tweeting recently that Forest want £10m for their player.
Burnley. Only prepared to go to 4 for Worrall. That won’t do the job. Forest value well over that figure.
— Alan Nixon (@reluctantnicko) August 30, 2020
The Daily Mail recently claimed that the two clubs were in talks over a possible £4m player-plus-cash deal which would see Ben Gibson move in the opposite direction to Worrall, with Forest reportedly keen on taking the ex-Middlesbrough defender off Burnley’s hands.
[freshpress-quiz id=”315369″]
On the face of it, the deal would make plenty of sense for the Clarets. Gibson has effectively been in exile after apparently falling out with some staff at Turf Moor, while his last appearance came just over a year ago.
Worrall, on the other hand, was ever-present for Nottingham Forest as they agonisingly missed out on the Championship play-offs, while his passing success rate of 80.9% is a significant upgrade on the figures posted by Burnley’s main centre-back pairing Ben Mee (71.4%) and James Tarkowski (70.8%) for that metric.
Worrall’s ability to play out from the back could give Burnley a different dimension in terms of their approach play, while his current club’s £10m valuation of him shows how keen they are not to lose him.
However, with the Clarets not even willing to meet halfway for a player whose TransferMarkt valuation of £4.95m is just under 50% of what Forest want for him, it’s hard to see the Lancashire club pushing the boat out much further, especially when they had already offered Gibson as part of a potential deal.
[freshpress-poll id=”316283″]
Unless there is a seismic change in stance from either club, and quickly, then it may be best for Burnley to look elsewhere for defensive reinforcements rather than continuing to get nowhere in the pursuit of Worrall.
Burnley fans, would you be disappointed if the pursuit of Worrall fades out to nothing? Have your say by commenting below!
