Burnley: Sean Dyche wants to avoid losing top stars

Sean Dyche has revealed there has been interest from other clubs to sign some of his Burnley players, but plans to resist any moves for his top stars.

With the Clarets almost safe, Dyche is putting plans in place for next season.

"We've had some predators looking around at our players, which is a positive negative," said manager Dyche.

"You want teams looking at your players and you want them playing well enough for teams to be looking at them, but you don't want to lose them."

Striker Charlie Austin is expected to be sought after by Premier League clubs in the summer after another prolific season in the Championship.

Last season's top scorer, Jay Rodriguez, was sold to Southampton in June 2012 for a reported fee of around £7m.

Meanwhile, six current first-team squad members - including goalkeeper Lee Grant, midfielder Chris McCann and striker Martin Paterson - are out of contract at the end of the campaign.

Dyche, who replaced Eddie Howe as Burnley boss in October, added that he has already identified transfer targets that he would like to bring to Turf Moor in the summer.

He told BBC Late Kick Off North West: "You never quite know until the summer, when it starts to settle, about who is available and what they're available for.

"We're in that process of negotiating with the players currently at the club and I can assure you that we've got the feelers out for plenty who might come to the club, so there's plenty going on behind the scenes."

Having been relegated from the top flight in 2010, Burnley are set to finish their third season back in the second tier in mid-table and Dyche has conceded that it will become more difficult for clubs such as Burnley to achieve promotion, due to the financial resources that other sides in the division have at their disposal.

"It's part of the challenge and we all enjoy that challenge," said the ex-Watford manager.

"Deep down, fans know who the powerful clubs are, but Burnley did it, Watford did it, Blackpool did it - without those mega resources, it can be done.

"You are punching above your weight because some clubs are so powerful. They just throw money at it and then they throw more and more."