We've got Wade Elliott

Last updated : 28 March 2008 By Tony Scholes
Wade Elliott
The Clarets winger has been in top form this season and supporters have been anxious over the past few months with his contract coming to an end in just a few weeks time. But he's removed those anxieties by committing himself to the Clarets until the end of the 2010/11 season.

He first joined Burnley in May 2005, making the move from Bournemouth on the same day as Garreth O'Connor, both coming in on Bosman signings. He'd impressed Steve Cotterill playing for Bournemouth in their cup defeat at Turf Moor and the then manager had tracked him for the remainder of the season before making his move.

He did well at the beginning of his first season but struggled to make an impact after Christmas. Then during last season he started to turn in consistently good performances and that's continued right through to the present. He won a number of Player of the Year awards at the end of last season and he was undoubtedly our best player during the 2007 calendar year.

This is just the news we wanted as we all start to look forward to next season and this new contract will take him beyond his 32nd birthday.

Owen Coyle is delighted at the signing and said after the deal was done: "When I first came to the club I recognised straight away that Wade was a fantastic player and he has been outstanding for me since I've arrived.

"The talks have been on-going and it has been difficult to get people tied down, but in the last month we have been able to get everything finalised. It's a magnificent signing for the club and if he were to come available on the market, you would be looking at a million pound plus fee so I am absolutely thrilled.

"There were a host of clubs that were after Wade in January and we could have sold him for a cut price because his contract was due to expire. But, I never lost faith that I could get him re-signed so we rejected all those advances."

The manager stressed just how important the signing of Elliott is and added: ""He is an integral part of how we play, getting the ball down to the wide players and he is a vital part of the jigsaw for us in what we are looking to do. I think for the football club it's the biggest signing of the season because I certainly think he has been our best player this season and the most consistent. The last thing you want to do is lose that type of player.

"Wade knows how my mind works and how I want to take the club forward. We have sat down and spoken about the big plan we have in place here and he's been receptive to that. He knows that we want to continue building and take the club on.

"Wade has bought into what we are trying to do and I hope we can bring in a similar player on the left-hand side to get that balance now. That in turn would free Kyle Lafferty to play up front, so we know exactly what we want to do. I have targets lined up for the summer now and hopefully we'll be able to add those on the back of signing Wade Elliott."