Djemba-Djemba not for Burnley

It's been going on ever since the end of the season when Steve said he'd like to bring him back and would speak to Martin O'Neill about the possibility of an extended loan deal. O'Neill though was keener to see the Cameroon international leave Villa Park permanently and that is exactly what happened a week and a half ago.

We were in Austria when the news came through that Villa had terminated his contract and at the time I thought that would bring to an end any hope we had of signing him given the sort of money he would be asking.

I do believe Burnley have done all they can to attract him back to Turf Moor, but at the end of the day the cost of signing him has proved to be just too much and today Steve Cotterill has confirmed that.

He told the Burnley Express: "If any club is prepared to pay for Eric, whatever they are prepared to pay for him is out of our league. Whoever comes into the club has to be within our pay structure, and these days a free transfer is not a free transfer because you have to sort the money out somewhere."

Some were telling us last week that Eric had signed for Burnley and it was just a matter of waiting for the announcement. That is not the case, he's currently looking for a club but that club is not going to be Burnley.