Burnley boss Vincent Kompany hails 'special' Jay Rodriguez after equaliser

The 33-year-old was not involved in the first two games of the campaign through injury, before coming off the bench at Watford on Friday night.

He got the nod against Hull City on Tuesday night, and responded with his first Championship goal for the Clarets since March 2012, in a display full of intelligent link play, while pressing hard from the front.

He worked like a man possessed at times, and Kompany said: "Brilliant goal – everyone knows with Jay Rod, we'll manage him as well, but he's a special player for us because he's got this real goal threat, but also quality on the ball, and he seems to me like he's really enjoying his game.

"At times it's like having a 22-year-old player, just watching, drinking in everything you say, so it's easy for me to coach him.

"But the biggest thing now is for everybody to understand we'll need to manage him, and if we keep him fit, he's only going to get better.”

Rodriguez remains Burnley’s most likely source of goals – in his last season at this level in 2018/19 with West Brom, he netted 22 in 45 appearances.

Asked again about the need for another striker, Kompany is happy to back what he has at his disposal: “A big part for us depends on the fitness of players, but we are not in a position where we can afford to store players.

“We have got to make sure we are really smart in how we do things, and that might be a bit more versatility in players who can play one or two positions, just because we cannot afford to spend and leave players on the bench doing nothing.

“If you want to do the doomsday Sunderland scenario, then you do exactly that and that is not what we are going to do.”

Liam Delap, who had been linked with a loan move to Burnley from Manchester City, was set to join Championship rivals Stoke City on loan at the time of writing.