Burnley chairman sends message to Newcastle about James Tarkowski January deal – EXCLUSIVE

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Poor starts, poor form and a general lack of firepower have clouded both Burnley and Newcastle’s Premier League campaigns, to the point where it is no surprise the duo have occupied the Premier League relegation zone together with Norwich since the start of September. January will bring about two extremely different fortunes for the pair, with Newcastle’s new-found riches giving their fans an expectancy of a new look side to drag them out of the mire and into the ascendency. And that could well be done by poaching Burnley player James Tarkowski themselves – with Clarets’ chairman Alan Pace stating he will be supportive of his star’s decision to either stay or leave.

Tarkowski, 29, has formed what can only be described as an imperious relationship with club captain and stalwart Ben Mee since arriving in 2016, earning Premier League survival every season alongside Europa League qualification in 2017-18.

The Mancunian defender even earned an England call-up for his resolute exploits in 2018, showcasing what he can do given a prolonged spell of confidence at the highest level.

But with his exclusion from the national team ever since and time firmly running out in his career, Tarkowski has made his concerns over staying at Burnley public.

The ex-Brentford star believes that he must move on from Burnley to either salvage his international career, or to earn himself a long-term lucrative contract – perhaps now at the age where it is last-chance saloon to do so.

And with comments made by Burnley chairman Pace to Express Sport, it appears the towering defender could leave Newcastle on red alert after the Clarets chairman acknowledged they would ‘support’ Tarkowski’s decisions.

“That’s a tough question,” Pace told Express Sport when asked about whether the club would take a fee for Tarkowski in the winter to reinvest, or whether retaining his services would be more valuable than any fee offered by a potential suitor.

“From my perspective, James [Tarkowski] is fantastic and we’d love him to stay longer.

“He obviously – at least from what he has said – feels that there are other opportunities and ambitions.

“We will support him any way that he would like, whether he wants to stay or go. I don’t know about the other side.”

Newcastle have been one of the clubs heavily linked for his services alongside West Ham and Leicester, who both made bids for Tarkowski last summer.

And although Tarkowski may not sign for the Tyneside outfit, it is expected that they will bring in some form of defensive recruitment.

However Pace has admitted that Burnley will likely do the contrary, believing that their current squad alongside manager Sean Dyche’s hard-working mantra will be enough to keep the club in the division.

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“Look, we aren’t big on winter windows, so to be fair, I think our philosophy is that we’ve got a great team that is going to keep us in the Premier League this year and we’re going to play this one out,” Pace said.

Burnley sit just one point ahead of Newcastle in the table, albeit with three games in hand following a bout of bizarre COVID-19 postponements.

They face Everton at Turf Moor on Boxing Day in a bid to win their second game of the season.

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