Ramsey & Obafemi: Vincent Kompany offers Burnley selection update ahead of Aston…
Given his focus on improving and developing players, the Belgian believes there’s plenty of players in his squad who have the potential to go and achieve something special.
It follows a busy overhaul of his Burnley squad this summer, with several up-and-coming youngsters – including the likes of James Trafford, Aaron Ramsey and Zeki Amdouni – among those to arrive at Turf Moor.
“I tell our players that I’m convinced we have the next £100m player in our team somewhere,” he said.
“I don’t know which one, but there’s going to be one of them that makes this jump.”
The Clarets now have plenty of squad depth at their disposal following a busy summer window that has seen them bring in 11 new players.
Jordan Beyer and Michael Obafemi, meanwhile, have seen their loan deals from last season made permanent.
Kompany is likely to be given plenty of selection headaches this season, a problem he more than welcomes.
“I would love it to be as tricky as possible,” he said. “We as a club embrace competition, we feel this is the way to get progress and development.
“I’ve never trusted a player that is a standout number one and tells me ‘I’m fine, I’m going to do well and I’m keen to do my best’. Yes, you will, but if you’ve got competition you certainly will.
“That’s what lives in the club and I think the players are really together and helping each other get better.”
Something Kompany is always keen to stress is the process required to get a new squad of players to gel.
“You can’t talk yourself into cohesion,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, a little bit more video analysis, little bit more individual work, a little bit more of everything.
“If the character and mentality is right, you can cut the time down a little bit in terms of the cohesion and settling in.
“Whatever it is, we’re embracing the next challenge and if we win we will learn from it, if we lose we will learn from it but the goal is certainly to be the best version of ourselves.”
