By Longsider
February 17 2005

Steve Cotterill has confirmed that Burnley have put in a bid for Akinbiyi. The Stoke City striker looks set to leave the Britannia with at least 2 other sides interested in the player.

Sheffield United and Wigan are the other clubs who are interested in Akinbiyi and Steve Cotterill has had this to say.

"We have made a bid for the player which we believe is higher than what the other clubs have made, they may have a few more incentives though."

"However, I've spoken to the chairman this morning though and they've since had a bid from another club which has been accepted, so we'll have to wait and see."

Akinbiyi held a protest at Stoke last week over the current situation and had this to say...

"I sat myself down in John Rudge's (director of football) office, made myself comfortable and refused to move and after about an hour, John finally gave in and agreed to call the chairman.

"My persistence paid off and after speaking to the chairman for about an hour I was able to make it clear to him exactly how we all felt, myself and the other players and the general atmosphere at the club.

"I didn't hold back on anything. I felt confident that we had a positive and productive conversation in the sense that he understood where I was coming from and about the general atmosphere at the club and how it was affecting us all," he told his official website.