BURNLEY'S operational director Brendan Flood insists that the club won't sell their best players - including wanted striker Kyle Lafferty - unless plans were afoot to replace them with better quality.

Speculation has re-surfaced that Scottish giants Celtic are ready to bid for the Northern Ireland international again, having had a £500,000 offer turned down this time last year.

And the Hoops' out-of-favour striker Derek Riordan has been mentioned as possibly arriving at Turf Moor.

But Flood said: "There's been no official approach from Celtic.

"I'm certain that Kyle is interesting several clubs, but he's still a young man and there will perhaps be a time when it is right for him to move on to further his career.

"But for me, the retention of our best players is vital.

"We would only sell our best players if we had somebody else to replace them who would add more value to the team.

"There's no short-term gain from selling your best players and not replacing them with more quality.

"I think there's always an optimum value on any footballer.

"But we've had no offers for Kyle that have reflected his value.

"We have not explored players who might replace him if we sold him.

"Our attitude would be that Kyle's not for sale at the moment."