PAUL Weller insists he has no desire to leave Turf Moor despite playing for a contract with Premiership outfit West Ham.

Weller has turned down a new three-year deal at Burnley and is currently training with the Hammers.

But the 23-year-old says only the failure to agree terms is prompting him to look elsewhere.

"I have said all along I don't really want to leave Burnley. It has been part of my life for seven years and I left home for the club.

"There's no reason at all to want to go away but the contract was not the right offer," he said.

Weller believes the ball is in Burnley's court if they still want to keep him but, in reality, it would appear that the situation is the other way round.

Manager Stan Ternent has made it clear he would like the player to stay but the club are not set to increase their contract offer.

That means Weller must accept what's on the table if his Burnley career is to be extended at the 11th hour.

Ternent confirmed his standpoint again when telling supporters: "Paul has been made a very good offer on the same sort of money as Andy Cooke, Glen Little, Paul Smith and Chris Brass - and they have all signed - because he's part and parcel of Burnley Football Club as I see it.

"I would be delighted if he stayed."

Ternent has also made it clear that the players can increase their earning potential by performing on the pitch. Playing in a promotion-chasing side rather than one that just avoided the drop last season would increase the player's stock and Ternent has said that he would be prepared to rip up existing contracts and offer enhanced ones as rewards for success. Unfortunately it looks unlikely that Weller and the club will see eye to eye, which means Burnley are set to lose one of their brightest young players.

That being the case, Ternent spoke to his West Ham counterpart Harry Redknapp who is currently running the rule over the former Clarets' trainee.

Weller played as a right wing-back for a strong Hammers side which lost 2-1 at Bournemouth on Monday night.

"I thought I did okay considering it was my first game since Plymouth (at the end of last season).

"I was only supposed to play a half but stayed on for about 80 minutes," added Weller.

"He (Redknapp) said I had done well.

"The only plan is to stay until the end of the week and I am not sure what he is going to do.

"I suppose I would like an offer from West Ham but I will have to play it by ear.

"It looks like Burnley is over and done with."

Meanwhile, director Bernard Rothwell has said that while Ray Ingleby has a good case to join the Turf Moor board in normal circumstances it would not be appropriate for an appointment to be made at this stage. Ingleby, who has the single largest shareholding in Burnley FC, has pulled out of the running for control of the club and has also been rebuffed in his attempts to win seats on the board. Rothwell admitted that his shareholding would normally warrant such a move, but added: "Somebody with as substantial a holding as Ray Ingleby has - if that's 30 per cent - a strong argument.

"But I never said I would support him sitting on the board.

"With all that's going on it would be stupid for us to invite him to sit on the board.

"If the Peter Shackleton deal comes off it's better for him, or whoever takes control of the club, to decide if he wants Ray Ingleby on the board.

"He has a very strong argument, and a substantial holding, and under normal circumstances it would not be a talking point but these are not normal circumstances."

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