Burnley boss Sean Dyche has opened up regarding the contract situation for several of his key players.

The Clarets manager has been unable to field the likes of Phil Bardsley, Jeff Hendrick and Aaron Lennon.

The club has not offered them short term deals to continue to the end of the season, which is extended due to coronavirus.

Dyche had to pick two youth players, Bobby Thomas and Lukas Jensen, on the bench, along with scholar Max Thompson for the game against Manchester City.

He said on Sky Sports after the game: "It's a definite challenge, you have probably seen our squad for this evening.

"We have got some things that are hard to put together at the moment with contracts and stuff like that so we are a bit skinny on numbers.

"I think picking up where we left off against these is tough anyway because they're a good side."

He added: "It's a strange situation with contracts and the chairman has advised what we should do and then there has been a long delay in getting things done.

"So the players therefore who haven't been offered things have made a decision to not finish their contracts, even if it is just for the next 10 days."

When asked if we'll ever see the likes of Bardsley and Hendrick in a Burnley shirt again, he said: "Not at this moment, we will see, I am trying to get the situation sorted out but it's not easy.

"All of them, I would have kept, certainly in the short term, but obviously I don't sort contracts out."