Burnley to face Newcastle test in Lisbon
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The Clarets depart for a six-day training camp in Portugal on Sunday at the Cidade do Futebol, as Kompany looks to get some more hard work done in warm weather – albeit while the UK enjoys a heatwave.
Ian Maatsen will link up with the squad after signing a season-long loan from Chelsea on Friday, and Kompany will also use the trip to bed in his seven summer signings to date, and further imprint his tactical stamp on the players.
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Hide AdAfter three pre-season outings to date – a 1-0 win over Rochdale at Gawthorpe, a 3-0 defeat at Wolves at the Sir Jack Hayward Training Ground, and Friday’s only public friendly, the 3-1 win at Shrewsbury Town, the Clarets will take on Newcastle – and potentially former Clarets Nick Pope, Chris Wood and Kieran Trippier – in Lisbon, with the Magpies having won 2-1 at Turf Moor back in May to send Burnley down.
Kompany said: “The training camp as a player is always the tough part [of pre-season], but it’s something we need.
“We’re in a place where we can really focus on football and on getting the details in that will be crucial for the first games of the season. It’s a good time for us to have it.”
Asked who Burnley would be facing in any planned friendly games in Portugal, Kompany admitted: "We play Newcastle on Saturday."
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Hide AdAnd while he hopes the trip will be useful from a bonding perspective, he is happy with the culture he has inherited at the club, and the way new players continue to be welcomed by the squad, despite the extreme turnover.
Kompany said: “It's a team, despite the changes, and the fact we have to bring in a lot of players, it's been, so far, easy to get those people in.
"That's one thing Burnley has more than any other club I think, that togetherness, it's a real group of lads and I enjoy working with them.
"I keep it simple and enjoy my time working with them every day.”