"If they lose Anthony Gordon" - Claim made on Luca Koleosho as Newcastle and Aston Villa eye Burnley ace | OneFootball

Burnley have been tipped to lose Luca Koleosho, who has earned plenty of recent Premier League interest

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Burnley may well be poised to lose Luca Koleosho irrespective of their achievements this season, with the prized winger emerging as a transfer target for a number of Premier League clubs despite recently agreeing a new contract at Turf Moor.

Koleosho had appeared set to surface as yet another significant player departure from Burnley during an action-packed finale to the summer transfer window when Wolves registered an interest in his services at the end of August, although Fabrizio Romano reported that a £40m asking price had temporarily deterred the Premier League suitors from making a move.

Following the conclusion of the window, Burnley sought to offer themselves increased security and bargaining power by tying Koleosho down to a fresh five-year contract, but that has seemingly done little to fend off interested parties.

According to a recent report from HITC, the 20-year-old is being tracked by Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Brighton and Hove Albion and Wolves after enjoying a productive start to the 2024/25 Championship campaign with Burnley.

The USA-born Italy youth international has scored twice from five matches so far, including the winner at Elland Road against promotion rivals Leeds United last weekend.

Burnley, Luca Koleosho transfer verdict offered amid Premier League interest

Football League World's Burnley fan pundit Nathan Rogers is prepared for what he believes to be the reality of losing Koleosho regardless of whether the club achieve promotion.

"I think the links surrounding Koleosho are growing more and more," Nathan told Football League World.

"There was a bit of good news when he signed a new deal, now the skeptic in me is thinking we've signed him to a new contract, given him a new bumper wage to get him through this season, changed the buyout and sell-on clauses - but our chances of keeping him regardless of if we go up or not are probably getting slimmer and slimmer by the week.

"I think he sees himself [capable] to play at the very top and specifically from a Newcastle point of view, I think if they lose Anthony Gordon then Koleosho would be an ideal replacement for them. They're very similar in style but I do think Koleosho has a bit of a higher ceiling than Gordon.

"With his international career still up in the air - he hasn't really commited to who he's going to play for out of Italy, USA and even Canada - are the Italy and USA managers [Luciano Spalletti and Mauricio Pochettino] now saying to him 'look, you need to play for a bigger club, you need to be in the Premier League?'

"I think it's clear to see that we're probably going to get the very best out of him until January or the summer, but I think regardless of whether we go up or not we will cash in on him to release some funds for whatever next season holds."

Burnley's Luca Koleosho is destined for the Premier League

Make no mistake about it, Koleosho's footballing ceiling is levels above the Championship and Burnley may well consider themselves fortunate to have managed to retain him in the summer, when they lost a host of key assets.

To the surprise of very few, the young winger has dazzled in the Championship so far and looks destined to remain a star-turn at this level for as long as he stays put, with second-tier full-backs simply powerless to prevent his dynamic running and 1v1 qualities when operating at full throttle.

Koleosho showed as much in the Premier League last term, and Burnley were deprived of a fresh and direct dimension to their attacking play when he suffered a season-ending injury back in December.

Those performances were indicative of a player capable of not only stepping up, but indeed flourishing, at the highest level - and they have clearly not been lost in memory.

Burnley's chances of retaining Koleosho will be greater if they complete an immediate return to the top-flight but the magnitude of his potential means that it could well be difficult in any case, and the focus may turn to simply collecting the highest possible fee instead.