Quoting the Laws-Marney Talks But Nowt Else Yet

Clarets gaffer,Brian Laws has confirmed he has held initial talks with Hull over their 26-year-old midfielder, Dean Marney.

Hull City are in dire financial straits, not helped of course by their relegation back to the Championship after two seasons in the top flight.They are looking to significantly reduce their £38.9m wage bill by offloading some of their players in the summer transfer window. It had been thought that Marney would be their first summer transfer in light of Burnley's reported interest.

Marney was linked with a move to Turf Moor for £1 million earlier this month with some reports suggesting the deal was nearing completion.

You can read the background to this speculation by reading Vital Burnley's earlier article via this link:

Rumour Mill-Marney for the Clarets?

The suggested progress though would appear to be wide of the mark and in an article in the local Humberside paper, the Hull Daily Mail today, Brian Laws confirms his interest but dampens speculation that a deal is close to being finalised.

'There's no truth in the rumour that we've offered £1m, I just don't know where that's come from' Laws said.

'Nothing has been done or said yet. All we have done is make enquiries about him and spoken to the club.

'He's one of a number of players we're interested in. We're just looking around.'

Laws currently on his summer holidays is not expected to make any moves in the transfer market until June.

Marney's representatives were understood to be bullish last week expecting a deal to have been finalised. According to the Hull Daily Mail though they are now saying talks have reached a delicate stage and that negotiations were still ongoing.

Nottingham Forest are also understood to be interested in the former Spurs player but Burnley could have an advantage in signing him due to the uncertainty surrounding current Forest manager, Billy Davies. Davies has been unhappy at the City Ground following Forest's failure to get promotion after being defeated by Blackpool in the Championship Play-Offs Semi Final.

Tensions between Davies and the Forest board appear to have surfaced following their failure to reach the Play-Offs final at Wembley. Davies wants to seek assurances that he will have greater control of transfers next season and believes that the lack of transfer activity in the January window cost Forest their promotion. The Board on the other hand have been concerned about his blatant comments about potentially leaving the club and his links with jobs at other clubs, most notably Celtic.

There is a meeting today (Friday 21st) between the two parties to try and resolve their differences.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.