BURNLEY appear to have been priced out of the market to sign Jason Shackell, after Derby County were understood to have upped their offer for the Barnsley captain to £1million.

Derby were already believed to be in pole position for the defender, ahead of Portsmouth and the Clarets, last week.

But Pompey are understood to have driven a harder bargain than Burnley and pushed the Rams into raising their bid this week.

That improved figure is not yet thought to have been accepted by new Barnsley manager Keith Hill, although the former Rochdale boss is mindful of the pitfalls of trying to keep a player who wants to leave.

However, with Shackell believed to be out of the country, nothing is expected to be finalised until next week at the earliest.

This could buy Burnley some time.