Burnley are not known for spending big money in the transfer window. However, they have recently signed last season’s Championship top goal scorer Chris Wood from Leeds for £14 million.
Burnley have also brought in several players including Jack Cork, Jonathan Walters and Phil Bardsley. However, Sean Dyche is still looking to add another striker to his ranks. The latest to be linked is newly promoted Huddersfield Town forward, Nahki Wells. But how will he fit in at Burnley?
Firstly, the reason for Wells’ imminent transfer from Huddersfield Town is largely due to the fact that Huddersfield have just signed striker Steve Mounie for a club record fee of £11.7 million. This has left Wells out of manager David Wagner’s plans. Hence why he looks to be on his way to Burnley.
Despite not being in Wagner’s plans, Wells could still be a good signing for Burnley. Wells has never played in the Premier League. But he was a top quality Championship goal scorer. Last season he scored 10 in the Championship for Huddersfield in 43 games. Not the biggest tally but given that Huddersfield were not the highest goal scorers in the Championship and even won the playoff’s without scoring a goal, 10 is a pretty good number.
Overall Wells has played 153 games for Huddersfield, having scored 49 goals and earned 13 assists. This works out at around a goal every third game and as mentioned above given Huddersfield are not the highest goals scorers, one in three is very respectable.
Furthermore, although Burnley have signed Chris Wood already, they have not quite replaced Andre Gray. Gray moved to Watford earlier this summer and left a big hole in the Burnley attack.
This is because Burnley love to play long ball. In order to do that, you need a pacey player to run in behind from the knock downs from the bigger striker such as Chris Wood. Wells could well be Burnley’s new Andre Gray. They are very similar players in that they are both very fast, both decent finishers and can both get in behind defences.
The only problem Burnley could face when signing Wells is that they have no idea how he will play in the Premier League. Therefore, signing him would be a bit of a risk. Because if he isn’t suited to the Premier League, Burnley may struggle even more this season. Of course, this is all speculation and as Chris Wood has already proved for Burnley this season, signing a Championship striker is not necessarily a bad thing. Because on his debut Wood came off the bench for Burnley and scored the equaliser against Tottenham Hotspur.
Overall, if Wells signs he will provide a fast attacking option that Burnley lost when they sold Andre Gray. He is a good finisher of the ball. But is also a slight risk as he’s never played in the Premier League.
