CITY prepare for their final and toughest test of pre-season at Burnley tomorrow with Phil Parkinson insisting: They're a lot like us.

Parkinson is expected to name his strongest line-up for the short trip to Turf Moor.

The clash with the Clarets, who are back in the Championship after just one season in the top flight, is a testimonial for Michael Duff – brother of one-time City skipper Shane.

Burnley finished second from bottom in the Premier League, five points short of safety, but received plenty of neutral support for not throwing the bank at it.

Parkinson said: "Burnley are a similar club to us. They have a similar ethos to what we do here and Sean Dyche has instilled a real work ethic in the team.

"It was an incredible achievement to get into the Premier League in the first place and they won a lot of plaudits last year even though they came up short.

"In terms of the resources they had, they gave it a real go to stay up and it's a shame they didn't."

Skipper Stephen Darby could be involved at some stage as Parkinson plans a final tune-up ahead of next week's League One opener at Swindon.

Parkinson's attempts to beef up his squad continue and Jamaican winger Joel Grant, mentioned as a possible target earlier in the summer, is believed to be under consideration for the space left by Filipe Morais' season-ending injury.

But the City boss is looking forward to testing his team against their first higher-division opposition.

He said: "It's a good fixture for us. We had the games in Scotland and then Carlisle was played at a decent pace. This one is a step-up and the majority of lads will look to play 90 minutes.

"We always try to play a Championship or higher-level team near the end, like we did with Blackburn last year.

"Obviously this is slightly different because we've been asked to play in a testimonial. With Dave Baldwin going there (as chief executive), we want to build a good relationship with Burnley and we're more than happy to do that and help Michael Duff.

"He's a well-respected player and it's quite rare these days for anyone to play ten years at one club. Hopefully we can make it a good occasion for him.

"This is the last game before the season starts for both teams, so it is an important one.

"Like anyone who gets in the Premier League these days, Burnley will have four years of parachute payments – which will put them in a strong position to try to get straight back, if not this season then the following ones.

"But it's not easy and Dychey will know that. There are a lot of teams in that division spending money and looking to push on."

Meanwhile, City are in talks with Liverpool over the implications of Andre Wisdom's season-long loan to Norwich and what cut they will receive.

City sold Wisdom to Anfield as a 14-year-old and, as part of the sell-on clause in the deal, they receive 20 per cent of any future loan or transfer fee.

Norwich are thought to have agreed a figure of over £1million for the defender, which would net his schoolboy club about £200,000.

But often with loan fees, the more the player plays, the less the club end up paying for him.

West Brom eventually paid less than a quarter of the original 'headline' fee when they borrowed Wisdom from Anfield last season – earning City roughly £30,000.