Sometimes it's the intangibles that make football great. The aspects that can't be quantified with a number or laid out in a graph. Passion. Joy. Heartbreak. Karama. Momentum. Narrative.
Destiny.
Sometimes you just know something is going to happen because it makes too much sense. Because it seems like fate. Because a Hollywood scriptwriter could make it up and it would be the perfect film.
You can just picture it: old protege leaves his mentor's side to spread his own wings, returns to face him for the first of many battles and will eventually take his place as king.
No movies will be made about Manchester City's FA Cup quarter-final with Burnley on Saturday but the plot couldn't be better suited to one as Vincent Kompany returns to the Etihad Stadium for the first time as a manager.
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It was always going to happen sooner or later and it turns out it's happening sooner rather than later.
It's a very different Burnley to the one we've come to know and probably not love in recent years. It won't be the 'trip to the dentist' Pep Guardiola used to dread but a completely different challenge thanks to the great work Kompany has done. He has been leading a claret revolution since taking over the reins from Sean Dyche after Burnley's seemingly invincible grip on the Premier League was finally broken. The team many labelled as a cockroach that survived everything thrown at it finally succumbed.
But from a roach to a phoenix, Burnley are rising from the ashes in spectacular fashion. Of the team that was relegated last season, only eight remain, including the old warhorses Ashley Barnes, Jay Rodriguez and Jack Cork. Otherwise, Kompany has transformed the complexion of the squad. Smart recruitment of talented but largely unknown players has seen the squad get younger, faster and a whole lot more technically proficient.
With a penchant for thrilling, goal scoring-wingers like Nathan Tella, Manuel Benson and Anass Zaroury and lightning-quick football, Burnley have bagged at least 12 more goals than anyone else in the Championship and are 12 points ahead at the top of the table. Not many predicted the instant return to the top flight they will surely now achieve.
Kompany has made sweeping changes on and off the pitch, as season ticket holder Kieran Dalimore explains: "Off the pitch, he’s brought positivity back to the club. He often speaks about how he wants a team that works hard, has togetherness and most importantly gives the fans a good Saturday.
"On the pitch is all change really. We had an ageing squad and there were only eight senior players left by the time he took over. He’s brought in 16 players, 13 aged 23 or under to bring the average squad age down. He wants young players who can run the extra yards.
"Early on in the season when the results weren’t coming in he had them sprinting down the tunnel. He always demands more, tells them not to believe in the hype and says we're the 21st-best team in English football and it’s about getting better than that."
An unexpected disaster aside, Kompany is destined to return to his old stomping ground next season but will now do so a little earlier, on the weekend of March 18, in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
Although Guardiola didn't enjoy heading to east Lancashire his side still had a nearly spotless record against Burnley, with a single draw the only blemish. At the Etihad, City tended to beat Dyche's side heavily but Burnley fans are more optimistic this time around.
"We 100% have a better chance against City nowadays," Mr Dalimore said. "It’s a running joke with Burnley fans that we have the annual 5-0 at the Etihad. It was getting boring. But we gave a good account for ourselves at Old Trafford earlier this season. We would previously set up to not concede at City but we will try and play this time."
It looks set to be an intriguing match-up and one in which it will be impossible not to look for traits in Kompany that suggest he could take over Guardiola one day. Though the Blues boss isn't going anywhere any time soon having extended his contract until 2025, there is the constant worry, like a storm gathering beyond the horizon, as to what City will do when he finally does end his tenure.
As Manchester United and Arsenal have shown, it can take years to recover from losing such a talismanic manager and a capable replacement can be extremely difficult to find. City will have to face it one day and at present, there don't appear to be a whole lot of obvious options.
But those looking for clues that Kompany could be the one may be in for a treat as they're likely to see similarities in how his Burnley side takes shape with City.
"Out of possession, he plays 4-3-3 with one midfielder behind the striker and two in the centre," Mr Dalimore explains. "In possession, it’s 3-4-4. [Josh] Cullen comes deep to collect from the defence, [Ian] Maatsen goes out to the left wing and [Conor] Roberts comes in as a third centre-back.
"If Maatsen isn’t getting much change then we switch it so Roberts goes on the wing instead. It’s slow, patient build-up - wearing teams down by passing from side to side waiting for the right moments. We average 70 per cent possession in most games and recently won 11 games in a row. He’s just a gem."
I wonder where Kompany could possibly have learned that from?
The prospect of a club legend returning to manage is a romantic one. When it succeeds like Guardiola himself at Barcelona, Zinedine Zidane, Antonio Conte and Diego Simeone, it's magic. But when it's done purely on the basis of a man's history and success with a club as a player it can be doomed to fail. Just ask Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo or Thierry Henry.
Yet there is already a growing sense at Burnley that Kompany is a man fated to manage at the very pinnacle of the game. While he should take the Clarets to the top flight, there's an acceptance that there will almost certainly always be a ceiling at a club with such limited resources.
For Kompany, there can surely be only one pinnacle in mind. "I think he’s destined to be Pep's replacement, yes. There are so many similarities in their style. We’re just enjoying him whilst he’s here at the moment as he’s destined to the top. He’s got it all."
Guardiola is in full agreement. As though he's already read the script himself, he expects his old captain to be in his seat one day. "All of us, the fans are happy he will be back," he said. He will be back here sooner or later, his destiny to become a Manchester City manager is already written in the stars. I don't know when, but it's going to happen.
"On the touchline with your player, you realise how old you are becoming, which is frustrating, but after seeing his team I am more than convinced he is going to come back. I feel it is going to happen."
Now all Kompany has to do is show just how good he is and prove Guardiola right on Saturday.
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