The Rumour Mill-One Out,Pato and One Ings,Danny?

Sky Sports were yesterday saying that Portsmouth boss Steve Cotterill was still keen to bring Martin Paterson to Fratton Park. This is not the first time of course we have heard such speculation. Earlier reports suggested a bid of £1.5 million had already been refused and that the Hampshire club had upped the ante to £2.5 million.

Sky Sports yesterday were saying though that they understood Portsmouth had now made an offer in 'excess of £2 million' and that Burnley were now considering their options.

The 24-year-old is believed to be part of Eddie Howe's plans at Turf Moor but Sky Sports asks 'could this offer be too good to turn down?'

Twitter went into overdrive when the speculation broke although Media Manager, Daz Bentley threw cold water on the rumour saying he had just spoken to Pato and he seemed upbeat about playing a new season with the Clarets.

It would be folly for the club to sell such a player so late in the day with August 6th looming just to 'make a quick buck' and take advantage of silly money. Would we find an adequate replacement in time? Let's face it we seem to be struggling finding high quality players with proven ability in the Championship as it is.

This is also probably a good time to remind the club what Eddie Howe said recently about Paterson:

'Martin Paterson is our player and I desperately don`t want to lose him,

'I want to build my squad around our best players and I certainly think Pato is one of them.'

Let's hope they do just that then and are not tempted by silly money after all 'we don't have to sell' now do we?

Burnley as we know are already in the market for a new striker following the departure of Chris Iwelumo to Watford.

The gossip over the last couple of days has all been about our rumoured interest in Rochdale forward Chris O'Grady with reports that we had made an offer of £500,000 for him. This however looks to have been precisely that, a rumour denied now by both clubs.

So now we go onto the next rumour, this one from none other than 'smarty pants,always right' Alan Nixon in the Mirror.

Nixon now appears to suggest Burnley have gone Cherry picking again and this time have their eye on Bournemouth teenage striker Danny Ings.

The 19-year-old made his debut under Eddie Howe during his time as gaffer at Dean Court.He joined the club as an apprentice in May 2008 and also had a loan spell at non-league Dorchester Town in 2010 scoring 7 goals in 13 appearances.

It is reported that many clubs have an interest in the striker but that Howe hopes to seal the deal with an offer of £1 million having the advantage of his former connection with the player.

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