Vincent Kompany believes Taylor Harwood-Bellis is on the right track to improve as a player as he possesses the leadership and drive to make it at the highest level.
Harwood-Bellis, 20, is on loan at Kompany's Burnley from Manchester City, having spent the first half of last season at Anderlecht when Kompany was manager there. Before that, the pair were teammates at City as Harwood-Bellis was trying to break into the Blues first team and Kompany was captain.
The centre-back has played every minute of Burnley's season in the Championship so far, scoring his first goal against Preston last week, as the Clarets sit fourth in the table. As Harwood-Bellis has linked up with England under-21s for the next two weeks, Kompany has reflected on the young defender, explaining that he has the mentality to have a successful career above the Championship.
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"I've known Taylor for a long time," Kompany told LancsLive. "And for what everyone can see on the ball or what everyone can see when he goes into his challenges, I think his biggest quality, that is perhaps more difficult to see on the eye, is his leadership and his incredible drive and high standards.
"These kinds of players you can almost be certain are going to improve. Usually, when a talent goes wrong it's because there's something mentally not right. With him, he's got that more than anyone else. Wherever he is now, in two or three years' time he will be a lot better.
"The difference between a young player and an experienced player is usually the amount of consistency you can get in your performances. At his age to start building a consistency of good games, and I think it's for the first time in his career, where his best performances are very good and his worst are 'okay', at his age that's something that will give him a lot of confidence for the next few years. That's how you become a centre-half that teams can trust."
Also at Burnley this season are two former City academy players - last year's under-23 captain CJ Egan-Riley, and goalkeeper Aro Muric - as Kompany looks to return the Clarets to the Premier League at the first attempt following relegation.
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