WATCH | Lyle Foster on Kompany, the Premiership and what he owes Belgium
Bafana Bafana's emerging star Lyle Foster says he still has to pinch himself about his dream move to English Championship club Burnley in January.
The Orlando Pirates youth product, who made a big move to Monaco aged 19 in 2019, battled for years to earn game time and find his scoring form in Europe at a variety of clubs.
The striker said it was his season where he “followed his heart” and moved from Portugal's Vitoria de Guimaraes to KVC Westerlo in the Belgian second-tier Challenger Pro League and scored four goals in 23 games there that was the turnaround to kick-start his still fledgling career in Europe.
Westerlo were promoted to the Jupiler Pro League where Foster scored eight goals in 21 games in the first half of 2022-23, prompting Belgium defensive legend, former Manchester City star and Burnley manager Vincent Kompany to come knocking.
“I'm still pinching myself,” Foster said ahead of a Bafana training session at FNB Stadium for their Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Liberia at Orlando Stadium on Friday and in Monrovia on Tuesday.
“We can speak for hours about how grateful I am but I think I need to shift my focus now to the games on Friday and Tuesday.”
Foster became South Africa's most expensive transfer with his move to Burnley, reported to be worth €7m (about R138m) with the potential to rise to €10m if his team, 13 points clear at the top of the Championship, are promoted to the Premier League.
Steven Pienaar moved from Tottenham Hotspur back to top previous club Everton for €5.75m in 2012 and in 1999 Benni McCarthy moved from Ajax Amsterdam to Celta Vigo for €6m.
“I try not to think about it too much. I just want to play football and enjoy it,” Foster said.
He said his aim is to become the leading striker in South Africa. “I'd be lying if I said, no. That's the position I wanted since I was a kid and yes, I want to cement that position.”
Foster said he remained positive as he battled for goals at Cercle Brugge and turned out for the Guimaraes reserves.
“But the thing that kept me going was the grace of God and also the love and passion I have for the game.
“Also just being in Belgium. I'm thankful to the people there and teams I was with who gave me so much confidence where I worked and improved day by day.
“I think that's when I saw [my career] could come back up, when I was in the Belgian second division and I started kicking off and scoring goals and getting my confidence back — that's when the self-belief really came back tenfold.”
Foster, who scored a cracking first goal at Burnley in a 3-0 win against Wigan on March 11, said Kompany has shown full confidence in him.
“If you look at their transfers they've bought a lot out of the Belgian League. When I got there we had a chat where he told me that in Belgium there's so much talent but the league is not as strong as England. He said he believes in me and I'm grateful for that.
“I played against him once, actually. And yeah, he came down to watch one of my games, against Genk I think, and he was happy with what he saw.
“I'm just happy to be working under a legend like him and learning from other people such asCraig Bellamy [Kompany's assistant].”
Foster said the Championship is “very physical” but Kompany has his team “keep the ball” and “like the manager says, we're not first in the Championship, we're 21st in English football”.
“Everyone comes to training every day with [getting to the Premiership] in mind. There are some guys in the team who've played six, seen years there, and they tell you stories about how great it is.
“Ashley Barnes told me how it feels to score in the Premiership and that's something I want to feel.”