Vincent Kompany is preparing to embark on his first season as a manager in English football after being named Burnley's new boss.
As a player, the Belgian became a club legend at Manchester City, where he spent 11 trophy-laden years. Such was his legacy that the club even unveiled a statue of him last year.
But now he has to prove himself in the dugout as he takes over the relegated Clarets. His appointment signals a fresh start for the club after a return to the Championship and just two months since the controversial axing of long-time boss Sean Dyche.
Here, Mirror Football looks at Kompany's in-tray as he prepares to get to work at Turf Moor.
Finances
As soon as Burnley's relegation last month was rubber-stamped the rumours and concerns about their financial situation began to surface.
According to their most recent set of accounts, the Clarets must pay back "a significant proportion" of a £65m loan at the end of the season. The loan was taken out as part of the club's takeover by ALK Capital in December 2020.
Premier League TV rights money provided as much as 90 per cent of the club's income during the Covid-affected years and while parachute payments will help soften the blow, it goes without saying the people in the boardroom will have to get their calculators out this summer as they bid to cut costs.
Of course, there is only so much Kompany can do to affect this but his work in the transfer market could seriously be affected by the financial uncertainty. Many fans expect and accept that the likes of Nick Pope and Maxwell Cornet will move on. The key is not only coaxing a fair price for those assets but re-investing the money wisely to build a team capable of bouncing straight back next season.
Goalkeeping department
As mentioned, Pope looks destined to remain in the Premier League unlike his current employers.
He has been a fine servant since his arrival six years ago, spending four of those years as number one. In that time he has rightfully worked his way into the England set-up and with a World Cup on the horizon he knows his only chance of staying relevant is by remaining in the top flight.
There are likely to be a number of suitors for him. Kompany's task is whether he goes out and gets a new replacement or opts to use one of the three existing custodians on the books. Wayne Hennessey is by far the most experienced of those remaining, with the 35-year-old having been a top flight regular for Crystal Palace and Wolves prior to his Turf Moor arrival last year. He also has a century of Wales caps but in terms of regular club football he has played just five league games in three seasons.
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Bailey Peacock-Farrell should return to Burnley all the better for a season-long stay at Sheffield Wednesday, as they just fell short in the League One play-offs.
The other option Kompany has is Will Norris but the 28-year-old is another who has been starved of regular action, with just three outings in the last two seasons.
Centre-half concerns
For four straight seasons the Clarets could call upon the reliable centre-half partnership of Ben Mee and James Tarkowski.
Between the 2017-18 campaign and the 2020-21 season, the pair missed just 35 games combined out of a possible 152 in the Premier League. Last term saw Mee miss the last three months of the run-in due to injury. Now, both have departed after their respective contracts expired.
Kompany, himself a former centre-back, has a huge job in rebuilding this area of his newly-inherited team. Nathan Collins impressed in 19 Premier League games last term but at 21 he is clearly not the finished article. The only other senior centre-half on the books is long-serving Kevin Long but he is mostly a back-up.
Two new additions are required with Man City's Taylor Harwood-Bellis one of those to be tentatively linked. Whoever comes in, they will have a huge job on their hands trying to follow in the footsteps of Mee and Tarkowski.
Rediscovering what made them so strong
Under Sean Dyche, travelling to play Burnley away became known as the archetypal 'tough place' to go for Premier League sides.
The cliche 'never an easy game' was rolled out countless times as sides prepared to head to East Lancashire. Down the years they have pulled off some fine scalps but somewhere along the line they suddenly lost that ability to upset the apple cart.
Across the last three Premier League seasons they beat just one top-six side at home; Tottenham last season. A big revamp is likely this summer but Kompany needs to harness the power of the support at home and once again make Turf Moor a fortress.
Weghorst dilemma
Giant striker Wout Weghorst arrived in January as a supposed ready-made replacement for Newcastle-bound Chris Wood.
Burnley staked £12million in the Dutch international but he ultimately failed to deliver, with just two goals and three assists across 20 Premier League games. After relegation was confirmed the 29-year-old didn't take long to make his feelings known about what next year has in store as he aims to be in prime shape for the World Cup in Qatar in November.
“My future won’t be next year in Burnley,” Weghorst said. "I won’t go into the Championship – not that I feel too good for it, absolutely not. I am just really ambitious and also for the squad of the national team."
The wording used by Weghorst - "next year" - has led to some believing a season-long loan could be a compromise. But if the Clarets do not go straight back up this problem will only re-occur next summer. If they can recoup what they paid out, then it would make sense to sell him now and cut their losses.
