James Tarkowski made his long-awaited return to Burnley’s squad on Wednesday night as the center-back played 90 minutes in the Carabao Cup loss to Man City
Tarkowski, who now looks set to stay at Turf Moor after the Clarets ruled him out of potential transfers to Leicester City and West Ham United, had missed the campaign’s first four competitive games due to a problem toe
His absence and continued transfer talks, with Leicester seeing a rejected bid for the 27-year-old 10 days ago, meant there was fear the England international had played his last match for the club
Boss Sean Dyche has always been firm in his opinion that he doesn’t want to lose the ex-Brentford man and it looks like Tarkowski will not stay with either the Foxes or the Hammers likely to rekindle their interest in the latter. days from the window
It is understood that Tarkowski was ready to leave Turf Moor to pursue his international ambitions, but the center-back, who has two more years to work with the Clarets, is now set to stay put
This will be good news for Burnley fans and for Dyche who is without injured captain Ben Mee as Ben Gibson left for Norwich City on loan
This means Kevin Long and Jimmy Dunne were paired in the first two Premier League games while Bobby Thomas had the chance to win the Carabao Cup against Millwall
But Tarkowski’s return immediately brought calm to the Clarets backline, and it was evident against City
It was by no means an assured defensive display from Burnley who was repeatedly cut off by Pep Guardiola’s side, but in general Tarkowski offered more protection in the heart of the four full-backs
Any discussion of a move didn’t seem to have an impact on his performance with the tenacious defender in the tackle, as evidenced by an emphatic early block on Walker that stifled an attack from the city
On the ball he has the confidence to play from behind and although he has been caught on multiple occasions with sloppy passes, his willingness to play short forward passes has helped the Clarets break the lines
Too often Dunne and Long, who behaved admirably together, were looking for a long pass or downstream clearance and if that weren’t precise for the frontmen, Burnley would immediately lose possession
In Tarkowski, the Clarets have a calm player under pressure and ready to change games or feed Josh Brownhill and Ashley Westwood’s midfield pair
There have been three occasions where he’s offered possession to City trying to do so, but the hope will be that the improvement in those levels of focus will come with match minutes.
He has 90 under his belt and will likely start at Newcastle United on Saturday as Burnley try to kick off his Premier League season
The Clarets are certainly a stronger team with Tarkowski and they need him more than ever
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World News – UK – How Tarkowski made his return to Burnley following speculation on the transfer
