"Scare other teams off" - Pundit reacts to £40m Luca Koleosho news at Burnley FC | OneFootball

Carlton Palmer has backed Burnley for setting a £40m price tag on in-demand winger Luca Koleosho

Pundit and former England international Carlton Palmer has backed Burnley for retaining Luca Koleosho and setting a significant asking price to fend off suitors.

Scott Parker was forced to oversee an unprecedented late fire-sale at Turf Moor, which saw the likes of Dara O'Shea, Ameen Al Dakhil, Wilson Odobert, Anass Zaroury and Sander Berge all leave the club in the latter stages of the summer transfer window.

Naturally, the wholesale departures prompted concern that Koleosho would additionally edge towards the exit door after catching the eye in the Premier League before suffering a season-ending injury back in December, despite the Clarets' struggles all season long under Vincent Kompany.

Indeed, Koleosho had been subjected to interest from Premier League side Wolves, although they were soon deterred from making an initial move after learning of Burnley's £40 million asking price according to Fabrizio Romano.

Burnley promptly agreed a five-year contract with Koleosho following the conclusion of the window, but it has seemingly done little to wade off his admirers.

As per a recent report from HITC, Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Brighton and Hove Albion, Nottingham Forest and Wolves themselves are all interested in Koleosho, who has made a strong start to life back in the Championship by returning two strikes from six appearances.

Carlton Palmer's Burnley, Luca Koleosho transfer verdict

We caught up with Palmer to ask him for his verdict on Burnley's £40 million asking price, and he believes that it is a fair demand with the intention of scaring off suitors.

"Burnley have moved quickly to slap a £40 million price tag on their talented young player Luca Koleosho amid interest from Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Wolves," Palmer exclusively told Football League World.

"Wolves failed in a deadline day bid in the summer to sign the talent and then Burnley moved quickly to sign him to a new five-year contract.

"He signed from Espanyol for £2.6 million plus £860,000 in add-ons. Obviously Burnley are looking to get promoted back to the Premier League, they've signed him on a five-year contract so it's down to them to name the price.

"They will be expecting teams to come back in for Koleosho, who has scored two goals in six games this season already in the Championship. But Wolves are bottom of the league and they will face competition from the likes of Nottingham Forest and Newcastle, who are interested in the player.

"Koleosho is not going to want to go from Burnley to bottom of the league especially with the other clubs chasing him. Once you've signed a player, you put him on a long-term contract.

"I think the £40m price tag is to scare other teams off from paying that, and if they're prepared to pay that they will let him go because the manager's job is to get Burnley back to the Premier League at the first time of asking and wants his better players to do that.

"They will have a very good chance at achieving that by keeping the likes of Koleosho at the club."

Burnley and Alan Pace deserve Luca Koleosho transfer praise

Burnley chairman Alan Pace received no shortage of criticism from disgruntled Burnley fans in the dying embers of the window, with many growing frustrated at the club's repeated dispensing of prized assets.

Although teams coming down from the Premier League are almost invariably tasked with extreme difficulty when it comes to player retention, the relentlessness of the sales from Turf Moor did prompt reasonable concern.

However, Burnley should be commended for keeping hold of Koleosho. It can be easy for clubs to give the green light to any deals which would see them net a handsome figure and Burnley no doubt would have been offered exactly for his services, but the financial gain from getting promotion could be far greater and they have done well to keep that in mind.

Koleosho should prove himself to be sensational throughout the duration of the season, and it is hard to imagine too many Championship full-backs being capable of subduing him.