Burnley manager Vincent Kompany has responded to comments made by South Africa head coach Hugo Broos, who expressed his confusion after Lyle Foster was unable to represent Bafana Bafana at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
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Earlier this week, Broos admitted he was confused as to why the former Orlando Pirates striker could not play for South Africa at the tournament in the Ivory Coast, but could turn out for Burnley while the continental competition was ongoing.
Ahead of the 2023 AFCON, Kompany told reporters that the club's medical team had said Foster should stay in a familiar environment amid a battle with his mental health.
Those issues had kept the 23-year-old sidelined in England for seven weeks as he sought professional help, with the forward now unavailable due to a groin injury.
On the back of those remarks from Broos, Kompany again explained why it was decided that Foster would not join up with his international colleagues in the Ivory Coast.
"It's not frustrating, it's expected. But I will explain it again very calmly," he said, according to the Burnley Express.
"Physical fitness and mental fitness are two very different things. You can be physically fit but you can also mentally be in a position where it's not a possibility for you to go away to a tournament for a month, if you're not in the right headspace or you don't have the capacity to deal with that.
"We've been very open about it. You come out of the rehab clinic, you're dealing with a problem that is beyond football. It's life.
"We were just part of his rehabilitation plan. It's his environment, he comes in through the doors, he's with people of his age, friends as well, not just colleagues. He doesn't have friends outside the club, he's come from abroad. His social support system is the club.
"The timing of him returning to play or not, it's absolutely not our decision. It's seeing what happens and seeing if he feels ready to do it.
"The first thing we did was remove him completely out of first-team football. We got care for him.
"We took a hit for it. It doesn't matter if we took a hit in a period where we could have used him. If he had said he needed another month, another two months, another three months, we would have gone along with that.
"But we are part of his rehabilitation, we're his support system. I can explain it again and again and again and I will do so by the way, because I expect this question to come again.
"I believe we sent documentation but we have documentation available for anybody that has the authority to look into it. We can share that, it's not a problem. Everything is documented.
"We went to great lengths to try and explain the situation to all governing bodies. FIFA, Premier League, FIFPro, PFA, South African FA, the manager, we tried to explain.
"But I expect I will have to explain again, so I will explain again. In a couple of months, I will do it again and again until people understand."
Foster has undergone surgery on his groin injury and will be unavailable for the Clarets for a lengthy period.
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