Following another largely underwhelming season at Rangers, some may have wondered if the Premier League ship had long since left the harbour as far as Ryan Kent was concerned.
Two of Kent’s biggest admirers – former Ibrox boss Steven Gerrard and Leeds United legend Marcelo Bielsa – are no longer in employment south of the border, after all. What’s more, rumours surrounding his future – even as the winger’s contract runs down – have gone rather quiet.
Well, until this week, of course.
Burnley secured their return to the big time after just one season away recently. Now, focus at Turf Moor is turning to what could be a busy summer of recruitment. Just days after The Sun suggested that Burnley had plans to scout Kent during the final few weeks of the current campaign, the Daily Mail claim that Vincent Kompany’s side have now made a formal declaration of their interest.
Burnley looking to sign Ryan Kent from Rangers
With just 13 ‘goal contributions’ across 43 games this term, the more cynical members of the Burnley fanbase may have concerns about whether the one-time Liverpool youngster is capable of making the step up to a more competitive, more high-profile division.
But, in Kompany, the Clarets have a coach who boasts an intriguing track record when it comes to coaxing the mercurial talents out of enigmatic widemen.
Anass Zaroury and Manuel Benson, two players Kompany knew from his time in charge of Anderlecht, contributed a combined 33 goals and assists during their debut campaigns on English soil. 11 goals for the former. 12 for the latter.
Southampton loanee Nathan Tella, meanwhile, had scored just two senior goals before arriving in Lancashire. During one season under Kompany, he has a remarkable 19. Arguably no player in the EFL has improved more over the last nine months than Tella.
The ideal destination?
“He has goalscoring ability,” Kompany says of the suddenly-prolific Tella. “But I have seen many players with goalscoring ability who aren’t putting in the work for the team. That is just not good enough these days for me. (Tella) is able to combine both and that is what has given us a little bit extra.
“I still call him a ‘raw diamond’. You can see that he’s still progressing.”
At Anderlecht, Jeremy Doku secured a £23 million move to Rennes after months under the Manchester City legend. Francis Amuzu, another Anderlecht academy graduate, could follow Doku to France sooner rather than later.
As inconsistent and as frustrating as ever even in his mid-20s; There is no guarantee that Kent can emulate the success of Zaroury, Benson, Tella and co at Turf Moor.
But if the long-serving Rangers forward is ever going to leave his imprint on the Premier League, Kompany may be the coach to make that happen.
