Burnley have emerged as Town’s main rivals for the signature of Swindon striker Charlie Austin with the Robins having accepted an offer from the Clarets for the highly-rated frontman. The Blues have so far been unable to agree personal terms with the 21-year-old, who was locked in talks at Portman Road yesterday after the clubs agreed a fee believed to be approaching £2 million.

The Blues are understood to have offered Austin a three-and-a-half-year deal but are yet to match the terms required by the former Poole striker.

Now Burnley have matched Town’s bid to Swindon and have been given permission to speak to the former Poole frontman with talks taking place at Turf Moor today.

Blackpool and Southampton have also expressed an interest in the one-time bricklayer but have not yet had offers accepted by the Robins.

Austin knows new Burnley boss Eddie Howe well having come close to joining his former club Bournemouth before he joined for Swindon. The Cherries were unable to complete his signing as they had a transfer embargo in place at the time and he moved to the County Ground instead.

However, Austin is believed to want to remain in this south if possible and a switch to Town is understood to appeal, if he can agree terms.

Photo: Action Images

itfc1981 added 09:47 - Jan 28 Clegg out, we have had it
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suffolkpoker added 09:48 - Jan 28 im gutted, why hasnt he signed? :-(
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the_egg added 09:48 - Jan 28 Get it done Clegg.
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bobble added 09:48 - Jan 28 never thought burnley would be in competition with town in anything.where is burnley ?
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Pessimistic added 09:49 - Jan 28 This is sounding very ominous. I desperately hope Town can persuade him to join the blues but the longer the talking goes on the greater the number of vultures waiting in the wings.
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bkd added 09:50 - Jan 28 Clegg betta no **** this one up!!
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Suffolk_n_Good added 09:50 - Jan 28 What a bloody cock -up! surely his demands can't be that high, can they? I just get a bad feeling that we've missed the boat AGAIN!.....
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agc232 added 09:51 - Jan 28 Give him what he wants and get him signed! Dont let anyone else get in front of us as per usual!
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joe9087 added 09:51 - Jan 28 Way to go, Clegg.
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paristractor added 09:51 - Jan 28 not gonna have a chance to sign someone of his quality anytime soon....would rather get rid of norris and get austin in
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SouperJim added 09:51 - Jan 28 Sounds like it's in the balance to me, Burnley might be able to offer him a better wage, but if he wants to stay down south and is keen on us, who knows.
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bontcho added 09:51 - Jan 28 Austin's just looking at all the options, like any sensible person would.
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legoman added 09:52 - Jan 28 Our clubs stand against inflated player wages is a noble one but one that condemns us to future obscurity.
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robdaful added 09:53 - Jan 28 He's turned us down :( http://www.swindonweb.com/?m=133&s=1599&ss=1600&c=8842&t=Out+of+Town
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SouperJim added 09:53 - Jan 28 Nice to see the same simpletons having a pop at Clegg. You don't know what Austin's demands are or what our wage structure is, so you're not in a position to pass judgement, clowns. We all want to see exciting signings, but try and hold it together.
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ChelmsfordBlu added 09:53 - Jan 28 Come on Charlie, boring boring Burnley - are you having a laugh - why do you want to sign for them northern monkeys?!
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pitseablue added 09:55 - Jan 28 Have to agree with legoman, we do struggle to get players in and it looks like some will go because of the wages that we offer.
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garethch added 09:55 - Jan 28 Yes its frustrating but some are so quick to point the finger. How do any of you know what his demands are? I seem to recall matching players/agents silly demands is a key reason behind what got the club (& countless other clubs) into financial mess in the past.
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cammeray added 09:56 - Jan 28 Souper - regardless, Clegg is about as much use as a condom machine in the Vatican
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dannyhegan added 09:56 - Jan 28 Ipswich is well South of Burnley! PR has twice the capacity Ipswich have a richer owner We are still favourites!
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Worcester added 09:56 - Jan 28 Captain f***up to the rescue again. "No young man we don't need goals that much, after all your not Jimmy Bullard are you?"
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ClassyIpswichLass added 09:59 - Jan 28 His latest tweet reads: "if pressure shown on TWTD website is anything like wot I'm gunna get on the pitch, I'm out of Ipwich (sic)"
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keanostackle added 09:59 - Jan 28 This is crazy all the time we seem to bottle it at the last minute !! For gods sake in the summer the wage bill is going to reduce with I am sure a number of players not having their contracts renewed. If they get this deal sorted do they not think it would give the club also a massive lift for the fans who have been paying their hard earned money through the last 2 years !!! I will for one be extremelly disappointed if we dont get thsi sorted now that we have agreed terms with Swindon !

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nudge1977 added 10:00 - Jan 28 For christ sake clegg, just get the deal done, i bet we are haggling over £500, just sign him up, he will repay his wages ten fold when he shoots us up the league. The guy is a goalscorer, which is what we need!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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meekreech added 10:00 - Jan 28 If our top management are serious about progress they will find it comes expensive ! If they are not prepared to pay the price the progress will not come !This is one of the problems RK had to bear ( failure to see the solution ) and now it seems PJ is having to face it too ! We need a negotiator able to deal with (greedy ! ) agents on the same wavelength !
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