Doncaster Rovers interested in signing Burnley defender Tom Anderson on permanent deal

Darren Ferguson has made an enquiry to Burnley about signing Tom Anderson on a permanent deal.
Tom Anderson celebrates scoring against Fleetwood with John Marquis.Tom Anderson celebrates scoring against Fleetwood with John Marquis.
Tom Anderson celebrates scoring against Fleetwood with John Marquis.

The 24-year-old centre back - who joined Doncaster Rovers on loan until the end of the season in January - is out of contract in the summer.

Burnley-born Anderson is currently sidelined with a fractured cheekbone which he suffered against Rotherham United in February.

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But the old-school defender has already done enough to persuade Ferguson to up his interest.

“I think so, yes,” Ferguson told the Free Press, when asked if he would be interested signing Anderson permanently.

“I’ve spoken to Sean [Dyche] at Burnley and we’ll have another conversation.

“Certainly I’ll need to bring in one centre half over the summer, if not two. That depends on what I do with the other ones that are here.

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“I know in my own mind what I’m going to do in the summer. The plans are set in stone.”

Ferguson told the media last week that the next stage of his recruitment drive would be to ensure there were two players fighting for every position.

He also dropped the biggest hint yet that he expected long-serving James Coppinger, who is out of contract this summer, to remain at the club next season.

He said: “My job now is to make sure we finish the season off as strongly as possible. Then looking ahead to next season we’ve got to be stronger than we were this season.

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“I’ve got to get players in that I feel are going to be better than what we had this season.

“We want to keep on improving year in, year out. It can be difficult to do that but I don’t want to stand still.

“This season I’ve seen an improvement as the season’s gone on. We want to finish strongly to take some momentum into next season.”

Speaking last week, Ferguson said: “We need to make sure we have really good competition; two bodies for each place.

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“Try not to be playing players perhaps where they shouldn’t be playing, try and find a formula for the left back position, and get a bit more competition for James [Coppinger] in that position.”

Anderson has been at Burnley since the age of seven.

He has had loan spells at Hyde, Halifax, Lincoln, Carlisle, Chesterfield and spent the first half of this season at Port Vale.

Andy Butler signed a one-year contract extension earlier this year, while Rovers have activated a clause in Joe Wright’s contract to tie him down until 2019.

Fellow centre backs Mathieu Baudry and Craig Alcock’s contracts expire this summer.