Charlton Athletic double raid should be Burnley FC blueprint | OneFootball

Burnley's double swoop for a Charlton Athletic duo proved to be brilliant deals.

Summer windows rarely see teams sign two players from one team, but Burnley did just that in 2016 with their acquisition of both Jóhann Berg Gudmundsson and Nick Pope.

The team they signed them from was Charlton Athletic, who, looking back, will feel they should have parted ways with the duo for far larger transfer fees.

However, the Addicks' relegation to League One saw Premier League bound Burnley take advantage as they snapped up the duo in July 2016.

Pope departed for just over £1 million - a reasonable sum given that the then 24-year-old had managed only 38 appearances in five years with the club. Meanwhile, Gudmundsson joined Sean Dyche’s side for £2.3 million - a bargain in hindsight, considering his eight years of valuable service that followed.

These transfers will undoubtedly be regarded as some of the best in Burnley’s history, given the exceptional value and long-term commitment both players brought to the club.

Burnley picked up a bargain from The Valley

Having signed the young keeper from Charlton, it took a while for Pope to earn his spot in the side, with the form of Tom Heaton and the experience of Paul Robinson often excluding him from match-day squads.

However, the retirement of Robinson in 2017 and the unfortunate shoulder injury to Heaton saw Pope thrust into first-team action. In 2017-18, he made 35 appearances and thoroughly impressed, keeping 12 clean sheets and conceding an average of just one goal per game as Dyche's side secured an unexpected 7th-place finish.

Over the following three years, the keeper took the number one spot from Heaton and finished his time at Burnley having kept an impressive 47 clean sheets in 141 Premier League games.

Disappointingly, his final season saw the Clarets relegated to the Championship, but his performances deemed him worthy of a continued spell in the top tier. Newcastle United were the side to offer him this as he made the move to St James' Park for a fee of £10m.

While many considered the £10 million fee well below Pope’s true value, it still represented a solid return for Burnley, especially given that they had signed the Magpies’ keeper for just over £1 million back in 2016.

Jóhann Berg Gudmundsson - A modern-day Burnley legend

While Gudmundsson's statistics at Charlton were impressive, with 34 goal contributions in 86 games, it was his performances at the 2016 European Championships that seemingly convinced Dyche to pursue a deal.

Speaking about securing the Icelandic international, the hard-spoken manager said: "It helps to see a player in the European Championship with that kind of company and he did well there. It was one we all agreed would be a good acquisition for the club."

"A good acquisition for the club" has to be termed an understatement in hindsight. In a similar fashion to Pope, Gudmundsson took time to make an impact, but in his second full season he showed his worth, as he contributed eight assists and two goals in 35 Premier League games.

His final years saw him help the club earn promotion from the Championship in 2022-23, with the Icelandic winger contributing ten times in all competitions.

However, his departure was a bizarre set of circumstances. Initially set to leave in the summer of 2024, a chance meeting with club chairman Alan Pace saw him change his mind, and pen a new one-year contract in July.

But, just over a month later, Gudmundsson decided to leave for good when the riches of Saudi Arabia came calling, moving to Al-Orobah for an undisclosed fee.