Andros Townsend in tears over Vincent Kompany’s Burnley decision

He’s been around the block a bit having already turned out for Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle, Crystal Palace and Everton amongst others, and this summer a switch to Vincent Kompany’s Burnley was on the cards.

The 32-year-old had apparently been without a club after leaving the Toffees, a decision that was no doubt influenced by the ACL injury that the player suffered back in March 2022.

BBC Sport report that he had been on trial with the Clarets and had even participated in friendlies against Portuguese giants, Benfica, as well as Real Betis and Genk.

Not only that, the player had even got as far as agreeing terms with the club that find themselves joint bottom of the table without a win this season and only a point to their name.

Things had therefore been looking up until Kompany pulled the plug on the deal, something that Townsend himself has put down to his enforced 18-month hiatus.

“The situation is I’ve not played a competitive match for 18 months so because of my age and lack of minutes English clubs can’t take that risk,” he was quoted as saying.

“I looked abroad and thought clubs would be desperate to sign a player of my experience but it was the same again, lack of minutes.

“The ACL is a very complex injury and when players get it in the latter stages of their career they sometimes never fully recover to their previous selves, so that’s the worry.”

It’s a decision that has clearly hurt the player, after he admitted via BBC Sport that the snub reduced him to tears.

“It was probably one of the toughest conversations I’ve had in my career,” Townsend added.

“If I was bad and knew I wasn’t going to get a contract I could prepare myself. But to be looking at houses, looking at schools, talking about squad numbers and then to be