BURNLEY boss Sean Dyche said he would not make a knee-jerk signing on the strength of Ross Wallace facing up to four months on the sidelines following surgery.

The Clarets were dealt and injury blow ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Brighton, with Wallace ruled out until later this year with a knee injury.

Burnley boss Dyche has been monitoring the transfer market all summer in an effort to sign attacking players.

Those efforts were stepped up following the sale of Charlie Austin to Queens Park Rangers on the eve of the season.

The Clarets suffered a further set-back with Wallace set to undergo an operation in the coming days after scans highlighted ‘wear and tear’ damage which required immediate attention to avoid more serious injury.

A timescale has not been put on the winger’s recovery at this stage. Dyche said: “It’s certainly going to be weeks, it could be months – three to four possibly.”

However, Dyche insists his search for new signings has not been altered by this untimely development.

“It’s been happening anyway,” he said. “It’s about aligning the right people for the club to add to the squad.

“This enhances that but it doesn’t necessarily speed it up because the process is what it is.

“We are active, we are talking to people but every part needs to say yes to get it done.

“It’s not always about finances. A lot gets made of that and we understand why, but it’s not just that.

“It’s got to be teams freeing up the players who you’re going for as well.

“Some of it is availability, some of it is finance of course – some of who we’ve been in for have gone out of our financial reality – so there is that to add into it but it’s not the be-all and end-all. It’s a mixture of circumstances.

“We’re not the only team looking to add. There’s competition from others and sometimes we can’t compete with the competition financially, but we can compete with the fact that I think we’ve made an environment here that players can come to and want to be a part of, so that’s a good sign.”

Of Wallace’s injury set-back, Dyche said: “It’s unfortunate for Ross. He’s had a really good pre-season and been really fit and sharp but the last couple of games his performances haven’t been what he wanted.

“He’s been carrying a knee injury that we’ve only been aware of over the last three or four weeks. He had a couple of issues with it last season but they’d gone away quite quickly, but we had to do something about it now. The decision was made to sort it out straight away, on the specialist’s advice.

“He’s got on with it in the past but it had got to the point where it needed sorting out and all parties were agreed on that. It’s just a wear and tear situation, nothing sinister, it just needed sorting out.”

Dyche has, however, been boosted with Michael Duff’s return to fitness. The defender, who missed the start of the season with a groin injury, came through a behind-closed-doors friendly with Chester City unscathed in midweek.

Ben Mee stepped up his bid for a return to the side by scoring in a 2-0 win. Steven Hewitt grabbed the other goal.