Burnley FC setback will raise Swansea City transfer regret | OneFootball

Burnley let Hannes Delcroix move to Swansea on loan in January

Burnley certainly haven't had too much luck with injuries this season, with Lyle Foster and Manuel Benson sitting out most of the season, while captain Josh Brownhill has also spent a spell on the sidelines of late.

There's another casualty in the treatment room now, Bashir Humphreys, and this one certainly isn't ideal as he was a key member of Burnley's record-breaking back line.

The Clarets are still waiting to find out the full extent of Humphreys' injury, as Parker confirmed after Friday night's 4-0 demolition of Sheffield Wednesday, but the consensus among the fanbase is that it's not looking good.

Humphreys picked up the injury in training and, if it turns out to be a serious one, he will be a huge miss at the back for Burnley, whose success has been built on continuity in their back five.

James Trafford, Connor Roberts, CJ Egan-Riley, Maxime Esteve and Humphreys has been Parker's go-to defensive line, but without the Chelsea academy graduate now, someone else will have to plug the gap vacated at left back.

Burnley let a perfect replacement leave in January

Behind Humphreys, Burnley aren't blessed with too many options for the left-side of defence, but they did have one in January in the form of Hannes Delcroix before they let him depart for Swansea City.

After John Egan also departed in the winter window, Burnley now only have three fit and available centre backs, owing to the fact Humphreys could also have played there despite featuring as a left back most of the season.

Delcroix was left-sided and could fill both the centre-back and left-back positions, so allowing him to leave so swiftly without there being much cover seemed a strange decision, and looks even stranger now.

The balance of Scott Parker's side looks better when they use a centre-half at left back rather than Lucas Pires, and Delcroix would've suited that role perfectly.

He certainly splits opinion among the Clarets fan base after a string of below-par performances in the Premier League, but as part of a leaking back line set up by Vincent Kompany, that was no real surprise.

Burnley will surely look at this deal now tinged with regret, knowing that not only are they light on the ground, but Pires is the only option they have at full-back potentially for the rest of the season.

Lucas Pires doesn't fill Burnley supporters with confidence

The only option Burnley have at left back at the moment is Pires, and it's fair to say he probably wouldn't be the man the Turf Moor faithful would want to trust in the promotion run-in.

He was run ragged on Friday night by Sheffield Wednesday's Djeidi Gassama and that's been an ongoing theme throughout the season for the Brazilian, who does tend to struggle defensively.

His main strengths are almost certainly offensive, but the pitfalls to his game often overshadow that, as he typically struggles to control the ball on a regular basis, while slicing a simple clearance out for a corner after two minutes on Friday night was symptomatic of his performances.

Delcroix would certainly have been a better and more convincing option to move forward with, but now he's in South Wales, Parker will have to persist with Pires whether Clarets fans like it or not.

All they can hope is that he doesn't de-rail their promotion push, but there's no doubting that it feels like Burnley's chances diminish slightly with Pires in the starting XI instead of Humphreys.