"Go out and splash £15-20m" - Alan Pace sent clear Burnley transfer demand ahead of January window | OneFootball

FLW's Burnley fan pundit believes the club must sign a striker in the January transfer window if they are to achieve promotion this season.

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…

After a strong start to the season, it has been a disappointing few weeks for Burnley in the Championship.

The Turf Moor outfit were relegated from the Premier League last season after just one year in the top flight, but they made an excellent start to life back in the Championship under new head coach Scott Parker as they emphatically won their first two league games.

However, the Clarets lost a host of quality players towards the end of the transfer window, including the likes of Vitinho, Dara O'Shea, Sander Berge, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Anass Zaroury, Wilson Odobert, Zeki Amdouni and Wout Weghorst, and they have struggled to maintain their impressive early season form.

Burnley suffered just their second defeat of the campaign as they were beaten 1-0 by Millwall at The Den on Sunday, but it was the fifth game this season in which they have failed to find the back of the net, and they have scored just eight goals in their last 11 league matches.

The Clarets' top scorer this season is midfielder Josh Brownhill with five goals, but their main attacking threats have struggled to deliver consistently, and Parker will be particularly concerned by the lack of goals from his strikers.

Burnley fan pundit sends Alan Pace transfer demand

When asked what transfer demand he would make of the club's owner in January, FLW's Burnley fan pundit Nathan Rogers urged Alan Pace to bring in a striker, even if that means spending a significant fee.

"It's got to be a striker, I think we have to go all out and get an out-and-out number nine, a poacher, a clinical finisher," Nathan said.

"We're crying out for goals, our creativity and our shots are just poor at the minute, we're bottom of every table in terms of attacking threat.

"It's costing us points now, it's no longer funny anymore and it's potentially going to get concerning if we don't find someone who's going to start putting these opportunities away and getting us some goals.

"My one cry would be a striker, just forget about everything else, we're fine in every other position, just go out and splash £15-20 million on a striker if we have to because it will get us over the line and get us promoted.

"We desperately need that."

Alan Pace must back Scott Parker in January transfer window

It is difficult to disagree with Nathan that Burnley are crying out for a goalscorer, and failure to recruit a striker in January certainly could cost them promotion.

While Lyle Foster and Jay Rodriguez are decent strikers at Championship level, neither have been prolific scorers during their careers and while he should not be written off just yet, the signing of Andreas Houtondji from Caen was always going to be a gamble.

The Clarets had 65.2% possession in their defeat at Millwall on Sunday, but they failed to register a single shot on target during the game, and that perfectly underlines the problems Parker has been facing in recent weeks.