Burnley manager Vincent Kompany believes Lyle Foster’s recovery from mental health issues is too early for him to join South Africa for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Despite not having played for Premier League club Burnley since October, Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos named the striker to the preliminary squad for next month’s tournament on Thursday.
“Unfortunately at the moment he’s not in a position where he can go to the national team, he just can’t,” Kompany told reporters on Thursday.
“His love for his country has no limits and his desire to do well has no limits but that would be going against the advice of every expert that has been assisting him in recent months.”
Kompany, who played for Manchester City in the past, said: “I’m a coach from African origin so for me the AFCON is very important and I feel very proud of any player representing us there because I think that tournament deserves the same importance as the Euros but, for his condition specifically, the human being, he’s not at a stage yet where he can do any of that.”Hopefully, in the future, he’ll be able to do a lot more for everyone on the big stage, but take it slowly.”
Foster had three goals in seven league games for the Clarets before the club announced last month that the 23-year-old was receiving specialist care.
There is no timetable for his recovery, but Kompany revealed that Foster, who joined Burnley from Belgian club Westerlo in January, had returned to doing some work for the club.
“Lyle’s making progress,” Kompany said. “He’s still being treated, but we’ve been fortunate in that we’ve been able to work with him on the fitness side.”
“His progress is what you would want it to be in terms of his mental health but physically, he’s in a good place as well.”