SEAN Dyche said speculation linking Jonathan Walters will a loan move away from Turf Moor is just that.

The 34-year-old has been absent since September with a knee injury, although he did feature in a behind closed doors game last week as he begins to edge back to full fitness.

The £2million summer signing from Stoke City has played just 70 minutes of competitive football for the Clarets since then, twice coming off the bench in the Premier League before he came off against Blackburn Rovers in the Carabao Cup with an injury.

Reports this weekend suggested Walters could make a temporary move away from the club in January, but Dyche insists the focus at the moment was on getting the Republic of Ireland international back to full fitness.

"That would be speculation for an unfit player who is just getting fit again. That’s where he is at," Dyche said.

"The future will take care of itself one way or another, we can only look at what is going on now.

"He is getting there. There is a longer term view, he had to strengthen and move it forward for the longer term, not just the immediacy."