Burnley midfielder Steven Defour has been linked with a move away from the club although he says he is just striving to get fit again. The Belgium international has been linked with a move away from the club this summer and, with the transfer window not closing in mainland Europe until September 2, a move may still be on the cards.
According to reports in his homeland, Antwerp are keen to take the midfielder back to Belgium but the 31-year-old says he wants to get himself fully fit and is purely concentrating on that at the moment.
Defour is in the final year of his present deal but missed most of last season with a knee injury and half of the previous campaign as well.
He had surgery on the problem in January 2018 and then had another smaller operation last term to fix a calf problem.
While he is back in training he is not yet fit to start a game and is making sure that his focus for now is to get himself fit again.
His representative Christian Pala said at the start of the summer he would be putting in the hard yards to try and get fit and he has reiterated that stance.
He said: “His focus is getting back fit and getting to his best level so he can still be important and play a good season in Burnley.”
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Meanwhile, the midfielder will not be fit for the clash at Arsenal this weekend – which is not a place that traditionally holds out a great deal of hope for Clarets fans as they have a poor record there.
Burnley go off to a great Premier League start last Saturday when they turned in a good second-half display to
overcome Southampton at home but a visit to north London is not top of their things to do list.
Unai Emery’s side started their Premier League campaign with an away win over Newcastle last weekend and will be looking to back that up with a home win.
The Clarets also go to the Emirates with a dreadful record against the north London giants as they have not beaten them in a league game in 45 years and have not picked up a point on their travels to north London in their last nine visits.
Burnley have been unlucky in the past with some poor decisions going against them at Arsenal but, with VAR, Dyche is hoping those days are over although he knows his side still have to perform.
He told the Express: “Decisions might be a bit more measured with VAR and you certainly won’t have had the decisions we have had go against us, but when it comes down to it you have to perform it’s as simple as that in my opinion. “The top sides are there for a reason when it comes down to it against the top sides you gotta perform if you don’t perform you rarely get anything against a top side.”
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