Swans in talks with Burnley international defender

The Swans are in talks with Jimmy Dunne, a former Republic of Ireland Under-21 international who is set to leave Turf Moor due to limited first team opportunities.

With Marc Guehi back at Chelsea the Swans are known to be on the search for a central defender and Dunne, who has only ever made 6 appearances in the Clarets first team, meets the first part of that qualifying criteria.

Loan spells at Barrow, Accrington, Hearts, Sunderland and Fleetwood gave him almost 100 appearances over 30 months but last season Dunne found himself largely on the sidelines despite those 7 appearances, 4 of which came in domestic cup competitions.   He did score a Premier League goal though against Leicester which gave him a season’s tally of one more than Rhian Brewster I guess…

He is well down the pecking order at Turf Moor, behind James Tarkowski, Ben Mee and Kevin Long, with Nathan Collins signing from Stoke City on Thursday, and the club still keen to bring in another central defender.

Although out of contract he is under the age of 24 so Burnley would be entitled to a development fee but there are several reasons why this kind of signing fits a Swansea profile.

Dunne was offered a contract earlier this month with manager Sean Dyche saying “Jimmy has stayed more around the first team all season and become a member of the squad. He has had some appearances as well which is important.

“There is still a lot of work to be done with him but he knows that, as regards to Premier League.

“I think he can handle the rest of football, I believe he could deal with the Championship and deliver.

“The Premier League is a different animal. He has got to adapt to what it really brings and he he showed that with his performances early season when they were good performances but just the odd little thing that caught him out and that is the Premier League, the details are so important.

“He has had a decent season behind the scenes, he hasn’t always figured in front of your eyes but he has worked very hard with the rest of the group to make sure he is good and ready.”