Brazil’s TNT Sports have conducted an interesting interview with Burnley fullback Vitinho.
Recalling the 24-year-old’s entire career, they explained how the player took his path through Belgium and then arrived at Turf Moor this summer.
It’s no secret it was Vincent Kompany who suggested his signing to Burnley, with the Clarets spending €1m to buy Vitinho from Cercle Brugge.
The Brazilian then spent a good part of the interview talking about the manager. It started with TNT Sports asking if the Belgian is a bit of a ‘little Guardiola’, due to everything he learned from the Manchester City boss, and the fullback didn’t want to call him that.
“I can’t say Guardiolinha, but there are a lot of similar things with City, with the Guardiola’s way of playing. But I don’t say Guardiolinha, he has his own way of thinking,” Vitinho told TNT Sports.
“It’s this way. It’s the details, but the simple detail. He wants us to do the simple things first, and then think about our individual issues. Because he says that if we do simple things, the individual will appear, the things that we have, that each player has differently, will appear, he has no doubt. But first we have to think about the simple things, control and passes, see what is happening before the ball reaches you. These simple things.”
Vitinho was also asked if he’s having a different time at Burnley, as he used to spend fewer hours at Cercle Brugge. He explained Kompany demands more from his players than most.
“I have to be at the club at 9:30am, 9:55am, more or less there, that’s usually the time. I go home at 4pm.
“I used to go to the club at 9am, I was at home at 1pm. So, you see… that’s Kompany. We have meetings every day, we work hard every day. When there is no meeting one day, there’s an individual meeting. He’s always looking to improve every day.”
Vitinho was a starter in Burnley’s opening Premier League match against Manchester City, but then ended up disappearing from the team. He played for a few minutes in the EFL Cup clash against Nottingham Forest, but is still to feature in a league game again.
