Wout Weghorst will be welcomed back to Burnley this summer - but only if he’s fully committed to joining Vincent Kompany’s Clarets revolution.
Kompany is planning talks with the Dutch striker, 31 next August, once his loan spell at Manchester United is over after the FA Cup Final with rivals City on June 3.
“He’s a player from Burnley football club who has played in the top four of the Premier League for Manchester United and also for Holland” says Kompany.
“The most important thing for me – and it’s a tough one for me to say obviously because of the Cup Final – is for him personally to finish the season on a high. But still, I want him to do well and we will have the conversation.”
Weghorst’s five month loan spell at Old Trafford is unlikely to become a permanent deal after his failure in front of goal.
Despite scoring nine goals for Besiktas in the first half of the season, the six feet six inch Holland international hit the net only twice in 27 games for Erik ten Hag, failing to score for them in the Premier League.
After Burnley were relegated Weghorst, a £12 million signing from Wolfsburg fifteen months ago, told the club he didn’t want to play in the Championship and went on loan to Turkey before United brought him back in January.
Although Weghorst has been a goal flop at United he’s impressed Ten Hag with his pressing capacity and ability to drop deeper with tidy link play. Those traits haven't impressed pundits however, with ex-United defender slamming the striker and saying he "doesn't offer anything".
"I just think Man Utd’s No.10, a top team's No.10 doesn’t look like a Weghorst in my eyes," he said after last weekend's defeat at West Ham. "The no.10 shirt means something else, it’s a player that can create, has got guile, can get between the lines and get on the half turn and bring other people into play in that sense and get goals.
"He doesn’t offer all those things I’ve just said there... I think his best piece of play today was a tackle in his own box. That’s a no.10 – that’s not what no.10s are known for doing."
And with veteran Burnley striker Ashley Barnes leaving Turf Moor after promotion, Kompany is keen to integrate Weghorst back into the squad. On Weghorst's part, he is adamant that his loan club haven't communicated with him, that they intend to ditch him at the end of the campaign.
“In those [talks] the club said they are very satisfied with me,” he told The Times after the West Ham game. “It has absolutely not been communicated with me that Man United don’t want to continue with me.
“They appreciate my value. They believe I am absolutely an asset for the team. Of course I have heard different things [in the media]. I have to wait and see what happens and focus on our goals in the league and cup competitions.’”
