BURNLEY today rejected a new £600,000 bid by Wigan to prise Robbie Blake away from Turf Moor.

The Latics contacted Clarets chiefs with the slightly improved offer this morning after seeing their initial £500,000 bid laughed off earlier in the week.

And angry Burnley chief executive Dave Edmundson has launched a broadside at Wigan after revealing the Clarets have been in talks with the player's agent over an extended contract.

Blake still has 18 months of his present deal remaining and Edmundon's revelations now make it clear that the agent appears to be playing Burnley off against Wigan to land the best deal for his player.

"We have been a little surprised by all the interest," said Edmundson today. "We have been in talks with Robbie's agent for the last four to six weeks with regard to a new deal.

"I spoke to the Wigan chief executive, Brenda Spencer, this morning and said their new bid was way below our valuation.

"We are not happy that we now have a player who is under contract for another 18 months and is naturally unsettled.

"We also now have a manager with a problem because he has done a fantastic job getting us to eighth in the division, largely thanks to Robbie's goals and a watertight defence.

"Agents clearly talk to their clients, but he is our player - under contract - and we are left to deal with the aftermath."

Edmundson, who revealed that Spencer would now speak further with Latics' chairman Dave Whelan to consider their next move, added that Burnley would not welcome any further approaches.

He said: "We have rejected the deal because we have no intention of selling the player, so that doesn't mean the ball is back in their court.

"They are the ones who keep lobbing it our way. We just keep lobbing it back!"

Meanwhile, boss Cotterill suffered another blow yesterday, narrowly missing out on winning the November Manager of the Month award, which went to Ipswich Town boss Joe Royle by a head.

But the Clarets boss would be delighted to be on the shortlist for December's award if his side can build on four wins in their last five league games, starting at Plymouth Argyle tomorrow.

He added: "We've just had a terrific month and now we've got a bigger month ahead.

"We know Plymouth is going to be a tough game and we've got to make sure we're ready."

Burnley are likely to name the same starting 11 that has won the last three games 1-0 courtesy of Blake, who recently scored his 100th career league goal and needs just one more to clock up half a century for the Clarets.

And Cotterill received some good news after learning that one of his walking wounded may return to the squad for the long trip south.

He said: "One of the injuries may clear up, but I don't envisage any more this weekend. I had thought that this week might show a bit of daylight, but as the week's gone on it's not shown as much as we would have wanted.

"Unfortunately, we're probably going to have to look towards another week now for the rest."