JANUARY is notoriously a bad month for Burnley. Sadly, 2006 shows no signs of breaking the mould.

Out of the Cup, defeated in the derby, winless since Boxing Day and currently lying eight points off the play-offs, the club clearly needs a lift.

Instead it's looking at selling its key player.

It's difficult to believe Ade Akinbiyi will be a Claret come February 1.

The noises coming from the boardroom are not encouraging. Rather than come out and say the player is not for sale, Messrs Kilby and Edmundson have merely stated that Sheffield United's bid does not match their valuation, which only leaves the door open for the Blades to up their offer.

If the national press have got their figures right, £1.75million is believed to be the asking price.

On the face of it, it's decent money for a striker approaching his mid-30s provided the money is made available to Cotterill to buy replacements.

The problem centres around the fact that the manager will have less than a week to get replacements in.

The difficulty will not lie in who to go for Cotterill will surely have seen this coming and will have a list of targets but any selling club will inflate the price of the player as they know Burnley desperately need to get their man before the transfer window closes.

And if and when Akinbiyi crosses the Pennines, the Clarets really do need replacements. Saturday was a dress rehearsal for life without Ade. For this writer's money, it looked pretty bleak.

"As 90 minute performances go, that was the best one for some time" claimed the gaffer. "On another day we could have won." Many would beg to differ.

In the opening 45 minutes, Carlo Nash was troubled just once, easily falling on Micha Hyde's underhit shot from the edge of the area. In the second, although Burnley dominated possession, the Preston keeper had even less to do.

As a striking partnership, the pairing of Gifton Noel-Williams and Graham Branch did not look as though it was bursting with goals.

While Branch was spirited but ineffective, Noel-Williams' display only proved that Cotterill has shown good judgement in keeping the player on the substitutes' bench for most of the season.

The next seven days represents a big week for Burnley. By the time the Clarets return from their break in the sun, we'll have a clearer picture of where the club is headed.