Goalkeeper Tom Heaton has been told he will be allowed to leave Burnley if Aston Villa come back with a better offer.
Heaton had face-to-face talks with Burnley boss Sean Dyche on Wednesday and the England No2 keeper, who has won three caps for his country, looks set to leave Turf Moor this summer.
Villa, who won promotion to the Premier League after beating Derby 2-1 in the Championship playoff final, have had an offer knocked back but are expected to return with an improved bid and remain in pole position to sign the 33-year-old.
Heaton only has one year left on his current deal but has turned down a new contract offer which alerted Villa.
He has been at Burnley since 2013, where he has made 200 appearances and helped the club win promotion from the Championship twice, first in 2013-2014 and then again in 2015-2016. However, both the club and the player now appear to feel the time has come for a change.
Burnley look set to promote Nick Pope to being their first choice keeper with Joe Hart also looking likely to leave Turf Moor.
Burnley are then expected to move for Leeds keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell, 22, to become their new back-up for Pope.
Villa have already spent close to £70m this summer as they look to build a squad capable of surviving in their first season back in the Premier League for three years.
They smashed their record transfer fee with the £26.5m signing of defender Tyrone Mings from Bournemouth , and have also splashed out on Brazilian forward Wesley from Club Brugge, left-back Matt Targett from Southampton as well as Anwar El Ghazi from Lille, Kortney Hause from Wolves and Jota from Birmingham.
Burnley have been slightly quieter during the transfer window, but have completed the signings of Jay Rodriguez from West Brom and Erik Pieters from Stoke.
