Burnley: Dyche dropped transfer masterclass by selling £25m “handful”
Since leaving Burley he hasn’t lived up to expectations…
After six consecutive seasons in the Premier League, Burnley were finally relegated back to the Championship during the 2021/22 season.
Although throughout his time at Turf Moor the English man was constantly praised for getting the most out of players on a limited budget.
Who did Burnley sign under Dyche?
Following Sean Dyche’s sacking as Clarets boss, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville believed Dyche did an amazing job, considering the little resources he was given.
He said:
“He had a bantamweight budget and yet punched hard against the heavyweights for years.”
Under Dyche, Burnley had a very clear transfer policy as eight of their 10 most expensive signings under the 52-year-old were all from the Championship.
| Dyche’s ten most expensive signings at Burnley | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rank | Fee via Transfermarkt | Player |
| 1 | £16m | Wout Weghorst |
| 2 | £15m | Ben Gibson |
| 3 | £15m | Chris Wood |
| 4 | £13m | Robbie Brady |
| 5 | £13m | Maxwel Cornet |
| 6 | £13m | Nathan Collins |
| 7 | £11m | Andre Gray |
| 8 | £11m | Matej Vydra |
| 9 | £11m | Jeff Hendrick |
| 10 | £9m | Josh Brownhill |
Since Dyche was sacked and Burnley promoted back to the Premier League only their 10th most expensive signing Josh Brownhill remains at the club.
One of the players who has moved on is Chris Wood, who left for Newcastle in January 2022, however, the decision to let him leave during their relegation battle looks like it could have been a stroke of genius by Dyche.
How much did Newcastle pay for Chris Wood?
Wood joined Burnley from Leeds United in the 2017 summer transfer window for a then-club-record fee of £15m.
During his time with Leeds, the now 31-year-old made 88 appearances, scored 44 goals and provided nine assists.
However, after joining Burnley he revealed that he couldn’t wait to play for Burnley in the Premier League.
He said:
“I’ve had tastes of being in there but I’ve never had the chance to give it a proper bash.
“Coming here I feel I’ve got a proper opportunity to do that. I’ve never started a Premier League game and this is what I want to do.
“This is a club that wants to stay in the Premier League for years to come and it’s going that way.”
Eventually, after four and half years at Turf Moor, the striker left Burnley to join Newcastle for £25m.
This was a significant fee for a forward who had only scored three goals all season.
Why did Newcastle sign Chris Wood?
Despite only scoring three goals for Burnley before joining the Magpies, Wood was part of a Burnley team that struggled to score goals throughout his time with them.
In all four of his full Premier League seasons for Burnley, the New Zealand international hit over 10 goals, with his highest tally being 14 in the 2019/20 season.
In total Wood made 165 appearances for Burnley, scoring 53 goals and registering nine assists, this goal-scoring form meant that the forward finished as Burnley’s top goalscorer in three of his four full seasons.
Following Burnley’s 2-0 win over Fulham, Neville, speaking on Sky Sports, was full of praise for the West Bromwich Albion academy graduate after his first-half goal.
He said:
“It’s almost like a player you’ve been watching for a few years and then all of a sudden you wake up to the fact that he’s better than I thought he was.
“He’s been a big handful tonight. It’s a brilliant strike. It’s one of those where he hits across it and it’s more difficult for the goalkeeper, it’s fading away from him.
“The little bit of skill doesn’t quite come off to start with but it’s a brilliant finish.”
During his final full season in 2020/21 with the Clarets, Wood proved himself as the focal point and main man of the team, as he almost single-handedly kept up a Burnley side that finished 17th.
This was shown through his stats, per Sofascore.
Despite only having the ninth-highest average rating in the team of 6.8, Wood scored 12 goals, nine more than anyone else in the team.
He also provided the second most assists (three), took the second most shots per game (2.1) although in first place was Jimmy Dunne who only played in three games, and finally he had the most shots on target per game (1.2).
For context, Wood’s 12 goals equated to 36.36% of Burnley’s 33 goals during the 2020/21 season, and last season Haaland’s 36 goals contributed to 38.29% of Manchester City’s 94 goals, showing just how important the Kiwi was to the Clarets.
What happened to Chris Wood after Burnley?
After moving to Newcastle, Wood couldn’t find the form he discovered while at Burnley, in his first year with the club, he made 35 appearances in the league, playing a total of 1.8k minutes, however, he was only able to find the back of the net on four occasions.
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