BURNLEY are believed to be close to agreeing a £2m deal for Aston Villa central defender Nathan Baker.

Baker made 13 appearances for Aston Villa last season, featuring against Burnley on the final day of the campaign.

But he was only a substitute in the FA Cup final and it is understood that Villa are prepared to let the 24-year-old former youth team graduate leave after the Clarets held talks over a deal.

Sean Dyche is keen to bring in a centre back to replace departed skipper Jason Shackell and provide competition for Michael Duff and Michael Keane, although Ben Mee can also play in central defence. Kevin Long is still recovering from knee surgery.

Baker, a former England under 21 international, has made a total of 87 appearances for Aston Villa since making his debut in 2011 and has also previously featured at left back.

He had loan spells with Lincoln City and Millwall earlier in his career but is behind the likes of Micah Richards, Ciaran Clark and Jores Okore in the pecking order at Villa Park.

Burnley boss Sean Dyche has made no secret that he is still trying to add to his squad, although was giving little away.

He said: “We still want to bring people in, still want to freshen, so we’re active in that.

“That’s the tough side of it at the moment, we have got money, and yet some of the deals other clubs are doing are massive for the Championship.

“But we’re still trying to support and challenge the group. We still want to reinforce, we are still at it.

“There has been a couple of deals which have gone away from us and a couple got closer, simple as that.”

The Clarets signed Everton forward Chris Long earlier this week and confirmed yesterday that they have also agreed a deal for teenage AFC Wimbledon forward Dan Agyei, subject to a medical and personal terms.

The 18-year-old scored 35 goals for Wimbledon’s under 18s and under 21s teams last season and featured against Burnley in the FA Youth Cup.

Agyei had been tipped to break through to the Wimbledon first team this season but the Clarets have made their move, fending off competition from a number of other clubs.

The player will travel north last this week to finalise the move and will join Burnley’s development squad.

Burnley may hope to complete a deal for Baker in time for the defender to feature in Saturday’s final pre-season friendly, Michael Duff’s testimonial match at home to Bradford City.

The Clarets won 2-0 at Fleetwood Town on Tuesday night when strikers Jelle Vossen, Sam Vokes and Marvin Sordell all returned from injury.

Sordell scored from the penalty spot in a 60-minute appearance, while Vossen and Vokes played a half each.

"It's a progression, it's coming together, people are looking more and more alive,” Dyche said of the performance.

"The fitness looked way stronger, which I know will come - we're renowned for that, so there's absolute belief in that.

"It can only come in stages, we don't expect the players to be fit and sharp over night, but you can clearly see it's coming.

"We got good minutes into virtually everyone. We had to be careful with Vokesey and Jelle Vossen for obvious reasons, so there is good progression there."