STEVEN Defour could be in line for a Burnley debut against Liverpool this weekend, but Ashley Barnes is still absent.

Defour completed his club-record £7.5million switch from Anderlecht on Tuesday and has trained with his new teammates this week.

MORE TOP STORIES:

The 28-year-old may be called upon to make an immediate start for the Clarets, with David Jones heading to Sheffield Wednesday on a three-year deal.

“We’ll look at it accordingly,” Clarets chief Sean Dyche said when asked if Defour could feature from the start, but the Belgian has played four times for Anderlecht this season so is match fit.

Dyche added: “He’s a player we’ve been on for a while to bring him in. He’s got quality, there’s no doubt about that.

“The adaptation to the Premier League is what we’ll be looking for. Having played a lot of international and Champions League football it’s fair to say his understanding of it is pretty clear.

“He knows it will be a challenge for us. He’s got a depth of experience. He’s not coming in thinking we will be rolling around the top three all season.”

While Defour could feature Barnes remains absent with a hamstring injury he picked up during pre-season, while full-back Jon Flanagan can’t play against his parent club, but wouldn’t have done so anyway as Burnley look to get him fully fit.

“Ashley Barnes won’t be available. He’s going along nicely after a hamstring issue,” said Dyche.

“We’re just getting Jon up to speed. He didn’t go on tour with them. I think he played three 45s so he needs more match time, but he can’t play anyway.”

Dyche revealed the deal to bring Defour in had been a difficult one to do and also a significant one for a club like Burnley.

“It’s just all the different angles, the player’s side of things, the club’s side of things, our side of things, they’ve all got to match and everyone has to say yes at some point,” he said.

“We all worked hard to get the deal done eventually.

“In Premier League world, the numbers that get bandied around for us seem really small. But for us, they are actually big for a club like Burnley.

“The rest of the Premier League are probably going ‘why aren’t they just getting on with those deals’.

“For us it’s a big thing to spend millions of pounds. For others it’s just like ‘park that, let’s move on and get another one in’.

“That’s the vast difference in the market.

“Liverpool, for example, their cheapest player will be more expensive than our record signing. We know there are no guarantees. Leicester proved it last year.

“But, as one of the big reports Deloitte Touche put out, generally speaking, clubs end up about where their finance guides them to.

“That’s often why finance is spoken about a lot and we are at the bottom of the pack so we have to fight beyond that and come out with something that will work.”