TRIALIST Artim Sakiri will not be offered a contract with Burnley.

The former Macedonian captain failed to travel here to Austria with the Clarets following 11th hour negotiations in the wake of Saturday's friendly with Malaga.

Burnley boss Steve Cotterill had wanted to take a longer look at the 31-year-old midfielder, who played 52 minutes against the Spaniards after featuring against Accrington Stanley last week.

However Sakiri (right), who arrived at Turf Moor having failed to secure a deal with Derby County, preferred to cut and run to join another interested club.

"I think Artim had something else agreed," revealed Cotterill, speaking from the club's training base in Obertraun.

"He has another option open to him and we wanted to look at him over a longer period. He only joined us before the Accrington game and four days is not enough to make a full assessment over his fitness and everything else.

"I was not prepared to do that."

Meanwhile, assistant manager Dave Kevan reflected on the 0-0 draw with Malaga, which maintained the Clarets unbeaten start to pre-season.

He said: "It was another important step forward in the players' fitness and it's three games now without conceding a goal.

"That is encouraging and the only disappointing thing was the actual pace of our football. It was a pre-season friendly and we would have liked it to be a bit livelier.

"We would also like to play with a little bit more sparkle and energy, but at the moment it is all about getting the balance right between training the players, but also leaving enough for their performances.

"We also have to take into account that Malaga are no mugs. They have been playing top-flight Spanish football for a number of years, so we knew it was going to be a different sort of test."

Burnley's first game here in Austria takes place tomorrow evening against PAOK Salonika, kick off 6pm local time.