BURNLEY expect to make Ryan Shotton their next signing once the loan window opens next Thursday.

Clarets manager Eddie Howe was thwarted in his late attempts to secure the central defender on a temporary deal from Stoke City late on Wednesday, after the Premier League club cut their transfer deadline day dealings fine.

Stoke boss Tony Pulis had been reluctant to allow Shotton to leave before adding to his squad.

But by the time he had spent £22million on bringing in Peter Crouch, Wilson Palacios and Cameron Jerome, it was too close to the 11pm cut-off to sanction the versatile defender’s departure.

Burnley had been hopeful of making Shotton a permanent signing earlier in the summer, but I understand Pulis is now keen to tie the 22-year-old to an extended deal before allowing him to leave on loan, after successfully using him as an emergency striker following injuries to Ricardo Fuller and Mamady Sidibe.

“We were trying until late on Wednesday night, but for whatever reason the deal didn’t come off,” said Howe, who is likely to act sooner rather than later in the loan market to secure his long-standing target.

After a seven-day cooling off period from the transfer window, Football League clubs are permitted to make signings up to a maximum of 93 days, and a minimum of 28.

Should loans be finalised at the end of September, those agreements would last until January, by which time the transfer window re-opens and deals can be renegotiated without players returning to their parent clubs.

However, the Clarets are reluctant to wait and are keen to sign Shotton at the earliest opportunity, with a view to him returning in the new year for the rest of the season.

“I’m keen to add to the squad now and use the loan market,” said Howe.

Read Andy Lochhead's column only in today's Lancashire Telegraph newspaper.