Burnley have dismissed a suggestion they emailed agents begging for help identifying players prior to Monday's transfer deadline.
The Clarets failed to make any additions on deadline day despite working close to the cut-off point on a number of potential deals.
It has been reported head of recruitment Lee Darnborough sent an email to agents on Sunday asking if they had any suitable players available.
The club have not completely denied this occurred but have issued a statement saying they believe the intention behind the email has not been accurately conveyed. They claim that rather than conducting a desperate search, the club were merely exploring back-up options should they fail to land first-choice players.
The statement read: "As deadline day approached, Burnley had identified its main targets.
"Two of those deals were actually agreed, both between clubs and the players, but regrettably the selling clubs decided not to proceed at the last minute, leaving Burnley Football Club looking to recruit elsewhere to add to the squad before Monday's 11pm deadline.
"The email suggested in the newspaper article was sent as a general sweep of selected agents, who naturally are best-placed to become aware of any last-minute movements in the market regarding their players.
"These often occur late in the day through the 'domino effect' of last-minute deals, where players are suddenly deemed surplus to requirements.
"In closing, the club has continually been open with supporters about how challenging the market is for a club that continues to act in a financially responsible manner."
Burnley, 17th in the Barclays Premier League, were keen to strengthen their squad.
They were strongly linked with Stuart Armstrong, who eventually joined Celtic from Dundee United, and West Brom's Graham Dorrans.
When it transpired neither of those deals would occur, there were suggestions they were interested in Nottingham Forest's Henri Lansbury and West Ham's Matt Jarvis, but neither materialised.
That left the permanent signing of defender Michael Keane, after a successful loan from Manchester United, as the Clarets' only January business.
Source: PA
