Connor Wickham has been linked with a loan move to Turf Moor.

Transfer rumours

Both the Mirror and the Sunderland Echo have linked Wickham with a return to the Championship and it seems he will be allowed to leave the Stadium of Light. However, his wages are bound to be high and there will be other clubs looking to bring him in.

A tall, strong, quick young forward, Wickham caused a stir when he broke into the Ipswich Town team at the start of his career before Steve Bruce paid around £12 million to take him to the north-east.

But Martin O’Neill has restricted his opportunities and brought in Steven Fletcher and Louis Saha this summer, so he has slipped further down the pecking order at Sunderland.

The Lancashire Telegraph states the obvious by suggesting Wickham’s wages could be a sticking point for a deal, with the young striker rumoured to be on £25,000 a week.

The newspaper also claims Eddie Howe remains interested in bringing Bristol City attacker Brett Pitman to Turf Moor.

Plymouth Argyle boss Carl Fletcher wants to keep Alex MacDonald on loan at Home Park. The youngster signed for an initial month (Western Morning News).

Vancouver Whitecaps winger Dane Richards will join Burnley in January.

Club news

The Clarets will be seeking to add to their squad ahead of the restart of the Championship season after the international break. Burnley have just three points on the board from their first four games and could only bring in Cameron Stewart on loan from Hull on deadline day.

Burnley have a number of players away on international duty this week. Sam Vokes has linked up with Wales and David Edgar is with Canada. Michael Duff and Danny Lafferty are on stand-by for the Northern Ireland squad. Teenager Cameron Howieson, who is back at Turf Moor after being granted time off, is on stand-by for New Zealand.

On the injury front, there has been some good news. Danny Ings’ surgery has gone well and the forward could be back in action before Christmas (official site).

Martin Paterson was supposed to be on international duty with Northern Ireland this week but pulled out to work on his fitness after making a surprise return in the defeat against Brighton at the weekend (official site).

Burnley caused a bit of a stir by unveiling a new sponsorship deal on the morning of the Brighton match. The Bob Lord Stand will now formally be known as the Totally Wicked Bob Lord Stand following a link-up with an e-cigarettes company (official site).

Burnley are now taking bookings for this season’s Ladies Day, which will be held on September 28th for the home match against Millwall (official site).

Ex-Clarets

Left-back Brian Easton has joined Dundee (SPL).

Steven Fletcher had an excellent debut for Sunderland, scoring twice in the Black Cats’ 2-2 draw at Swansea City (BBC Sport).

Zavon Hines has signed for Bradford City (BBC Sport).

Clarke Carlisle has joined York City. The defender went straight into the Minstermen’s squad for the home game against League Two’s then leaders Oxford United and gave a dominant performance in the second half as his new team ran out 3-1 winners. Carlisle previously told BBC Sport of his anxiety at being without a club as the season started.