During Burnley's heyday in the Premier League under Sean Dyche, the Clarets were well-known for being an attritional side defensively.
Indeed, come the end of the memorable 2017/18 campaign that saw Burnley finish in an unbelievable seventh spot, Dyche's brave troops had only shipped a slim 39 goals in total. To add more context, Arsenal would amazingly ship 12 more strikes, despite finishing in fifth.
Burnley manager Scott Parker
This could well mean Parker's camp in the here and now stand a fighting chance at Premier League survival, having only just leaked a remarkably low 16 goals themselves on the way to sealing automatic promotion in the Championship.
But, all the publicity surrounding Burnley's rock-solid defence has come back to bite them, with valiant Clarets centre-back CJ Egan-Riley now heading for the exit door.
Egan-Riley's situation at Burnley
Egan-Riley was a key component of the Clarets' formidable defence in 2024/25, culminating in the former Manchester City defender picking up a bumper 26 clean sheets from 41 Championship ties.
Unfortunately, his contract situation at Turf Moor has become Burnley's own undoing, with the 22-year-old's current deal at the club expiring later this month, leading to him seeking out other employers in the form of RC Strasbourg and West Ham United.
CJ-Egan-Riley
This would be a disorienting loss for the Clarets to come to terms with, considering his crucial spot in the promotion-winning side under Parker, but they could win themselves a dream replacement by securing the services of an experienced Premier League centre-back.
Burnley's "outstanding" Egan-Riley replacement
Burnley will be well aware that adding in experience here and there could be vital in boosting their survival chances, with the Clarets of old relying on seasoned heads such as Ben Mee and James Tarkowski to get them out of sticky situations.
Joe Gomez could come in and offer that same level of protection, with a recent report from the Empire of the Kop revealing that amid interest from Leeds and the Clarets, Liverpool wouldn't stand in the way of the 28-year-old if he did fancy leaving Anfield behind this summer, having now placed a £25m price-tag above his head.
Whilst the London-born centre-back has been troubled by recurring injury issues in recent seasons - as seen in him missing a combined 29 games across the last two campaigns - he has shown in the past for the Reds that he can be an imposing presence at an elite level.
This is evident in Gomez only leaking 106 goals from 149 Premier League contests and counting, with the Liverpool number two's calm and composed presence potentially critical in easing Burnley's nerves up a division with Egan-Riley no longer around.
Gomez's overall PL numbers
Games played
Goals conceded
Tackles
Tackles won
Recoveries
Duels won
Aerial battles won
Passes per match
Wins
Clean sheets
Stats from the Premier League
When glancing at the table above, it's even clearer that Gomez would be a welcome addition to Parker's ranks to replace Egan-Riley.
Indeed, the "outstanding" defender, as he was once praised by Reds teammate Virgil Van Dijk, averages a 72% tackle success rate across his wealth of top-flight experience.
Moreover, he didn't look out of place either last season when thrown into the deep-end by Arne Slot, with a high 89% pass rate averaged across his nine league contests. Egan-Riley, despite being front and centre of the Clarets' defence all season long, only averaged an 86% pass rate on the contrary.
Joe-Gomez-Isak
Of course, Gomez has been helped on Merseyside by the exceptional calibre of the teammates around him.
But, to try and immediately plug the hole left behind by Egan-Riley, Burnley could do far worse than snapping up the consistent Liverpool number two in their efforts to try and secure survival.
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