By Ian Parker, PA
Republic of Ireland international Robbie Brady will leave Burnley when his contract expires at the end of next month, the Premier League club have announced.
The 29-year-old was a club-record £13million signing when he joined from Norwich in January 2017, but after a bright start to his Turf Moor career he has been limited by a series of injuries, making only 21 starts since suffering a serious knee problem in December 2017.
In total he made 87 appearances for the Clarets, but has struggled with a succession of other fitness concerns since missing almost all of 2018.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time here,” Brady said on the club’s website.
“I’ve loved every minute and I’m really going to miss the lads. They have been a massive part of my career and I’ve made friends who I will hold onto for a long, long time. In that respect everything has been great.
“Unfortunately, I picked up a quite significant injury when I felt like I was almost reaching the peak of my game in that season where we finished in the European spots.
“We’d had a really good spell and picked up a lot of points but then I picked up the injury and that was me for almost a year. I found it difficult with the magnitude of the injury getting back.
“It was a long road and a hard road for me, personally, but I managed to get there.”
Brady has not played since suffering an Achilles problem on international duty in March, and will stay at Burnley’s Barnfield training complex to work on his fitness until his next move is finalised.
Brady’s exit is the first confirmed move of the summer for Burnley, with boss Sean Dyche hoping to strengthen a squad which has been stretched by injuries over the past 12 months.
“Robbie has been incredibly unfortunate with injuries,” Dyche said.
“In his strongest spell for us – when he was really flying and helped us qualify for Europe – he got a really serious injury.
“He came back from that and one or two other injuries to play his part in a strong time for the club.
“When he has played, he has been a credit to himself and a good servant to us as a club and we wish him well in the future.”
