It seems peculiar that one of the players who could have been both useful and affordable in the Championship should be the first one to leave Hull City in the summer, but ultimately everyone has their price.
Dean Marney, a perennial underachiever but certainly a fine player when the wind blows correctly, seems set to join Burnley as soon as the transfer window re-opens.
The money quoted is £1 million, which certainly would come in more than useful as Adam Pearson's huge cost-cutting campaign for the summer to cope with the financial madnesses of his predecessor and the shortfall caused by relegation hits home.
Marney has had four seasons with the Tigers and for most of that time he has failed to convince. Yet there was a three-month spell at the start of the Premier League adventure when he formed part of a three-man midfield that seemed, somehow, to click so brilliantly that the Tigers looked capable of conquering the world.
There is energy and passion within Marney's make-up and despite his limitations and some howls of derision from the Tiger Nation, he has also never hidden from his responsibilities and everyone knows that he is a far better footballer than he has mostly shown. That's the chief frustration. He perhaps won't be missed as readily as Sam Ricketts and Michael Turner have been - they are the other two major signings Phil Parkinson was allowed to make in his short period in charge - but getting a midfielder of his virtues, if not his skills, will be harder than imagined.
And with every other midfielder with the probable exceptions of Ian Ashbee and Tom Cairney being almost flaunted in the windows of the KC Stadium for passing clubs to purchase, certainly reinforcements will be needed. Beggars can't be choosers, and in an ideal world other players would have been shipped out before anyone had come in for Marney.
If he does go, he'll be missed by this blogger, if mainly for his brand of honest endeavour and his admirable method of trying to gain and maintain confidence by constantly looking for the next ball.
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