Signing Steven Defour, once chased by Manchester United, over the summer from Anderlecht, Burnley pulled off something of a coup, and their fans are absolutely delighted with it.
The Belgian midfielder has impressed since his arrival at the Premier League club, with many having a tough time remembering better players to have donned the claret and sky blue shirt at Turf Moor.
With three assists and a goal in eight league appearances, the 28-year-old has helped Burnley get off to an incredibly good start as the promoted side sit ninth in the table, one point ahead of Southampton.
Going straight into the side following his arrival, the Clarets have Anderlecht manager René Weiler to thank for the player’s newfound fitness, as explained by the club’s general manager Herman Van Holsbeeck.
He told Sport/Foot magazine: “Weiler did the same thing he did with Okaka, which was to say you cannot arrive at training late or two kilos overweight.”
Arriving back to training overweight over the summer and being picked up on it, Defour apparently changed his attitude and got in shape.
However, at the back of his mind, there was only one thing he wanted, and that was a move away from Belgium, with the Premier League calling.
Van Holsbeeck said: “The only one I didn’t want to sell was Defour, but I understood that we couldn’t hold onto him.”
Defour recently admitted to having forced the issue with his director of football when a promise he could leave for €7m wasn’t kept, but the 28-year-old was eventually sold to Burnley for £7.3m midway through August.
However, Van Holsbeeck didn’t leave it there, still taking a dig at his former midfielder regarding the broken promise, stating: “If we have to explain everything we did for Steven Defour, and I’m not going to, it hurts me to read that.”
In the end, the player got what he wanted, Burnley fans got a great player, and Anderlecht got more money than they first thought they would.
Win-win all around, if you ask us.
