“I went to see Vincent Kompany around five or six weeks ago and they had started pre-season training. It was a weird thing,” Neville said.

“The season finished quite early and Burnley went up quite early, so he brought them back after three weeks which was before the season had just finished for the

Premier League. I was like ‘What’s happening here?’ And then he was going away with them for a 10-day camp, then they were having another 10 days off and they

were having another block for pre-season.

“It’s a really interesting way of doing pre-season. I had never seen it before and never heard of it before.

“He’s obviously a workaholic – I know we say this sometimes about managers, but I think he genuinely sleeps four or five hours a night. He’s one of them managers

who’s up till 10 o’clock at night, leaves the training ground at eight o’clock.

“Some of the players that have been great players – they haven’t done that 12-to-14-hour day every day and lived it and breathed it. Managers live it and breathe it,

they want to do well but then there is that element of obsession.

“When I went to see Vincent Kompany for those few hours, you get a feeling from speaking to people on the grounds or the physio ‘Oh what’s he like?’ and they’ll

say, ‘Oh we don’t go home till half eight or nine o’clock at night.’

“Straight away you’re thinking there is an obsession there – he’s not leaving anything to chance.

“It’s going to be really hard work for those that are there, Burnley have always worked hard when Sean Dyche was there. But a different feeling then when Sean

Dyche was there with Vincent Kompany – he’s done well.”

Carragher has been equally as impressed with Kompany’s transition from legendary player into successful manager.

Given the respect the Belgian commanded as a player, especially with Manchester City, the former Liverpool man is not surprised by how well Kompany has done up

to this point.

“Vincent Kompany is one of those players where when you think of a great player becoming a manager – straight away when you walk through the door you’ve got

that respect because you get that,” he explained.

“But very few players have got what he’s got because he has unbelievable respect in a dressing room at Manchester City that had some of the best players in the

world and you know he was still that leader, that presence – the one they all looked up to.

“He’s the type of guy where if he wasn’t a football manager he could be involved in politics or something.”

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Kompany desperate for Burnley bid to be accepted – Selling club want deal finalised ‘as soon as possible’

Burnley are pushing hard to get a deal for Hertha Berlin forward Dodi Lukebakio over the line and get Vincent Kompany his ‘dream player’.

That’s according to BILD, who back up claims that Burnley have made a bid for the forward and want to get him to Turf Moor as soon as possible.

A report earlier today indicated that Burnley had made a bid for the former Watford player, who has been keen to leave Berlin for a while.

 

BILD back this up, stating that Burnley are offering a fee of €11m plus bonus payments for the forward. Those bonuses could see a deal become worth around €13m

in total.

Lukebakio is keen to leave Berlin and has been waiting to do so for weeks. Hertha have backed him in this regard as they need the money, allowing him to train

alone and even wrap him in cotton.

They want to get a deal for him over the line ‘as soon as possible’ and so are more than welcoming the bid from Burnley.

The Clarets’ interest is coming via Vincent Kompany, who is an ‘old friend’ of Lukebakio according to the newspaper and considers him a ‘dream player’.

He ‘definitely wants to sign’ him for Burnley’s first year back in the Premier League.

Hertha are happy to make that happen and take the money to reinvest in the squad, meaning this deal seems like an easy one to get over the line on all fronts.