Ex-Crystal Palace & Everton winger Andros Townsend opens up on failed Burnley move

As recently confirmed by Vincent Kompany, the Clarets had agreed to bring the winger in following a successful trial period.

But before the contract was about to be signed, Kompany informed the 32-year-old the deal would no longer be going ahead.

Appearing on talkSPORT, the former Crystal Palace and Everton man explained how the situation developed.

“At the end of June, the beginning of July, I was invited to go and train at Burnley to keep fit and get going,” Townsend said.

“They realised I’ve still got what it takes, so the manager pulled me in the office and said ‘listen, we are interested. We are going to take you on tour to Portugal and see you against high level opposition’.

“I went to Portugal, played a couple of games – Genk, played very well against Benfica and got 90 minutes. The next day, I was offered a one-year deal.

“I got back to England and I went for a medical straight away. Passed the medical. I thought ‘right, I am ready to sign’.

“As I’m in the shower getting ready to see the chief executive because the contract was almost ready, as I’m in the shower somebody from the coaching staff says; ‘the manager wants to see you in his office whenever you’re done’

“I got ready, got dressed and went to see the manager. For one reason or another the contract was no longer on the table for reasons I didn’t understand.

“It’s recently come out in the press conference that the manager said other options they were looking at had become available and injuries they had in the building had come back sooner than they thought.

“It’s a decision I didn’t agree with, but that’s life. We shook hands, we hugged it out, we went our separate ways and now I’m here looking for another opportunity.”

Kompany addressed the issue during Thursday’s press conference ahead of his side’s Premier League opener against Manchester City.

The Belgian confirmed a deal was in place but the club decided not to go through with it due to a number of factors.

“We initially made sure we had terms agreed with Andros, so we did offer him a deal,” Kompany revealed.

“But it was pending on a couple of things, mainly where the recruitment was going for us and the recovery of some of the players we had injured through pre-season. It was quite transparent in that sense.

“He’s been brilliant, he’s been fit and working hard. He’s been good for our dressing room, but in terms of what we already had in the building and what we want to bring in, it didn’t make sense for us to complete.

“My advice to any manager that is still looking for a winger is to approach him, because he’s shown very good signs for us in pre-season.”

The Clarets have already brought in wide men Jacob Bruun Larsen, Luca Koleosho and Nathan Redmond this summer, with all three featuring against Man City on Friday night.