Vincent Kompany provides Lyle Foster update after Burnley striker is named in South African's preliminary AFCON squad

Burnley announced in November that Foster was taking an indefinite break from football to receive specialist care for his mental wellbeing.

Despite not featuring for the Clarets since October 21, the striker has been called up to Hugo Broos’ preliminary 50-man squad for the upcoming tournament, which takes place between January 13 and February 11.

While the 23-year-old is making progress in his recovery, Kompany doesn’t expect his player to be made available for his country.

“Unfortunately at the moment he’s not in a position where he can go to the national team, he just can’t,” he said.

“It’s not something he can do at the moment, going away for a long time and being in a very different environment.

“His love for his country has no limits and his desire to do well has no limits, but that would be going against the advice of every expert who has been assisting him in recent months.”

Kompany added: “The conversations are ongoing. I’m a coach from African origin so the AFCON is very important and I feel very proud of any player representing us there because that tournament deserves the same importance as the Euros.

“But for his condition specifically, the human being, which is the person we’ve treated in the past month, he’s not at a stage yet where he can do any of that.

“Hopefully in the future he will be able to do much more for everybody on the big stage, but it’s step by step.”

Kompany went on to provide an update on Foster’s recovery, adding: “Lyle is making progress.

“We’re still following him closely, he’s still receiving treatment. But we’ve been fortunate that we’ve been able to work with him on the fitness side and physically he’s in a good place.”

When asked where Foster’s physical work has been taking place, Kompany added: “It started elsewhere and then we’re progressing into the next phase.

“I’m not able to put a timeframe on it. What is important for me is that physically he’s in a good place and it seems like we’ve made progress, so we’ll see.”