Clarets Chronicles-Part 2

Clarets International

A number of our players were on International duty recently as we took a two week break for the Euro 2008 qualifiers.

Michael Duff of course was not considered for Northern Ireland due to his long-term cruciate injury but both Steve Jones and Kyle Lafferty were selected in the squad for the match away to Sweden in Stockholm. Steve Jones had to be content with bench warming and didnt get a chance to play but it was a different story for striker,Kyle Lafferty who found himself an hero on the night after scoring the equaliser in a 1-1 draw. The stunning strike from Kyle came with 18 minutes remaining and kept Northern Ireland`s hopes of European Championship qualification alive.Lafferty managed to wrestle free of defender Olof Mellberg an unleased a thunderbolt from 15 yards into the corner of the net

Sweden had lead from the 15th minute when Mellberg picked up a flick from Kim Kallstrom to put a close range volley past Maik Taylor.

It was a different story for Scotland who after beating the Ukraine 3-1 at home,then fell to minnows, Georgia in a 2-0 defeat away from home in Tbilisi. Graham Alexander played at left back in the latter match.

Meanwhile Iceland's embarrassment continued in Liechtenstein with the minnows thumping the team 3-0. This followed closely on the back of the 2-4 home defeat by Latvia

Joey Gudjonsson played for about an hour in the match and was probably the most red-faced player to return to Turf Moor in midweek.

John Cofie

Steve Cotterill admits he could lose wonder teen sensation,John Cofie. Our exciting prospect has been targeted by Premier League clubs, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

Both the local and national press have been rife about this news for the past few weeks, even though a lot of Clarets fans may not even have been aware about our prospect.

The teenager was spotted by Burnley at a youth tournament in Germany last year.Cofie a pupil at Moorland School in Clitheroe,is also a life-long Liverpool fan, so certainly the prospect of playing for the team he idolises could be too good to turn down.

The Clarets have since been desperate to hang on to the 14-year-old striker, who already is rated at well over £1m.

The gaffer had hoped the 14-year-old schoolboy would make it to the first team following in the recent footsteps of Chris McCann and Kyle Lafferty.

'There's nothing happening at this moment in time, but no doubt there will be,' he said.

'There's not been any new developments, but there probably will be.'

The gaffer also fears that these developments will involve Cofie leaving Turf Moor.

'Probably, no doubt that will happen,' he continued.

'The bottom line is there's an agent that has been working to get him out.

'I'm disappointed with the whole thing, majorly, but I don't want to say anything on it at the moment, I think I need to keep my thoughts and opinions to myself.'

The Clarets messageboards have been rife discussing the young lad. Some feel we should cash in now and use the money to build the current first team for quicker success whilst others believe he could be a star of the future for the Clarets and help us achieve even bigger success possibly being the next Nugent or Walcott!

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

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