Burnley sign James Tarkowski from Brentford

Championship promotion candidates Burnley have completed the signing of Brentford defender James Tarkowski on a three-and-a-half year deal.

The 23-year-old has been a key figure at Griffin Park over the last two seasons, featuring in 23 of the Bees' 29 league games this term.

"It is disappointing to lose James. He is a very good player, everyone at the club knows that," said Brentford manager Dean Smith. "He had made his feelings clear that he wanted to be closer to his parents in the north. As a football club we were very sympathetic to that and we always said we would be happy to let James go as long as our valuation was met.

"Unfortunately we had the incident a couple of weeks ago where we had bids for James that were nowhere near our valuation. Our valuation has now been met. We are losing a good player but I would rather have players that are fully committed to the football club."

Smith's Burnley counterpart Sean Dyche said that he was delighted with his new signing, telling the club's official website: "James is a player I have known for a couple of seasons and I've monitored his progress from Oldham, right the way through to now. He is at a good age and has gained a lot of experience over the last couple of seasons and I feel he can be a big part of us going forwards in the future.

"We want competition in all areas and we have been a little bit light in that area all season, so we feel he's a very good player and an excellent signing for the club, both now and for the future."

Tarkowski will wear the No.26 shirt at Turf Moor.