Burnley boss Vincent Kompany wanted to keep hold of ex-Bristol City midfielder Josh Brownhill at all costs

The 26-year-old has started all nine Championship games so far having been bestowed with a new role under the new regime at Turf Moor.

He added his sixth goal contribution — four goals and two assists — when teeing up Taylor Harwood-Bellis' first senior finish against former club Preston North End.

"You just have to look at the impact he has on our squad," said Manchester City legend Kompany. "It's not just on the pitch, it's in terms of leadership. He gives you so much energy and, on the other hand, it doesn't take much for him to score a goal or to get a chance.

"I still feel he's learning the position and that's really exciting because if you give it another three or four months he'll feel the position. Once that happens a player of his quality can have a really defining impact for us this season.

"If you line up the tasks there's no reason why he can't play that position really, really well. He just needs a bit more experience in that position, but what he's shown already in a short period of time, it's probably more than what you could have anticipated at this point."

Brownhill netted the first brace of his career in the 5-1 victory over Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium last month, adding an assist for Nathan Tella's strike, after already scoring in stalemates against Luton Town and Blackpool.

The Warrington-born ex-Manchester United youth player, who made his 300th league appearance at Deepdale on Tuesday evening, will face another former club at the weekend.

Brownhill found the net 16 times in 145 league appearances for Bristol City, before making the switch to the Clarets in January 2022. He could have been moving on again, if Burnley had entertained the interest from rivals in the summer, but Kompany confirmed the club did everything in its power to retain one of their star men.

"The club was adamant; everyone at the club knew that we had to keep those strong foundations and keep it healthy," said the four-time Premier League winner. "That's not just the financial side, that was also on the football side.

"I think there were concessions we had to do early doors, which other teams that were relegated didn't have to do when you look at the Norwich and Watford squads. We dealt with it, we accepted that it was a reality, and we let a number of players go to finance the entry of others.

"At the same time, as soon as we allowed certain players to go, we knew that we didn't have to do that any more. Of course there was interest in Brownhill, but there's a limit to what we needed to be doing to set ourselves back up."

While the Clarets shared the spoils in the Lancashire derby, the Robins lost out in a five-goal thriller against Norwich City at Carrow Road in midweek. The two sides are level on 14 points ahead of their meeting.