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Brendan Flood though has spoken of his desire to see Lafferty continue his career at Burnley but warned him that we could choose to replace him with something better. "Lafferty is a young fellow who probably hasn't thought about it as much as he could have done," Flood said.
"There's always pressure on desirable players, because there's an army of agents out there talking to them about what money they might get elsewhere. They want to listen, they want to pressure the club to do better deals for themselves. That's football today unfortunately. We would like him to be playing up front and hopefully sticking a few in.
"I don't think we've given up hope of him staying, but it's certainly made us think more about whether he is in the squad next year. Realistically, what he said has forced us to consider it a bit. We are trying to get the best team to get us out of the Championship and there might be better players around.
"Every one of our players might not be the best player for that position, so we've got to be objective about how to be successful. If Owen can get better players he will do."
The offers have continued to come in for Lafferty since Celtic made the first move eighteen months ago and Flood added: "The right money and being able to replace him adequately would be a key part in any discussions. There are people who have been chasing us since last Christmas to sell him, and we're trying our best not to. The key thing is building our team.
"I don't think last week has devalued him because it's close season and I think, in football, people take it with a pinch of salt and understand there might be other motivations involved, and I think the fans should view it that way. It's not a personal attack on them.
"He maybe hasn't thought about the way he has said it. Certainly a lot of fans value him, we value him, and it would be great to see him get 20 goals for Burnley."