How haunting experience at Hamburg is helping Vincent Kompany stay calm following Burnley's tough start to the season

Having taken the Championship by storm during his first season in charge at Turf Moor, amassing 101 points on the way to the title, the Clarets have so far found life tough back in the Premier League.

Burnley have yet to win a league game, taking just one point from their opening five games having been handed a tough start to the campaign, with games against the likes of Man City, Man Utd and Tottenham.

But when the going gets tough, Kompany is able to reflect on the hard times he had as a player, especially when he made the move from Anderlecht to Hamburg in 2006 for a €10m fee.

Big things were expected of the former defender in Germany, but he picked up a serious injury at the same time as going through some haunting experiences away from the pitch.

When asked what experiences he can call upon to stay calm in Burnley’s situation, Kompany said: “It’s just life in general.

“When you talk about Hamburg, I was the biggest signing in the history of the club. I got there and I was injured straight away, I tore my achilles tendon, I was out for nine months, my mother (Jocelyne) passed away, my sister got cancer and the club was fighting against relegation having come from the Champions League.

“All the big players were injured, Nigel De Jong, Jerome Boateng, Rafael van der Vaart, so the squad we assembled was not playing.

“Spending Christmas at the club. working out hard on my own, stuff like this. But you get out of it eventually. That’s my story.

“Those are the moments where you think ‘this is what I did in those moments’. At the very end of it people want to talk about the success and the trophies, but my journey was much more complicated than the trophies I lifted.

“I feel I’m in a position where I’m good for these positions. I’m good to be the guy who when you have success keeps saying it’s not enough, but I’m also good in moments when it’s up against you and you have to keep going.”

Kompany admitted that his traumatising start to life with Hamburg was easily the toughest time of his career.

“By far the toughest, by some distance. You learn a lot,” the Belgian added.

“If there were prices on young talents back in the day, I’d be pretty high up in my first two years at Anderlecht.

“You go from being this super talent, with all these bad habits and you think you’re better than you are and you get away with stuff because people see the value in you.

“From that year in Hamburg, you learn pure humbleness. You learn that when you’re on the way up, you must stay humble because when you’re on the way down you’ll pay for it.

“That’s why I don’t complain. I was lucky to learn these lessons when I was young enough.

“In the end I’m proud of my career because I had a lot of doctors saying I might be in trouble. That I’d be done at 24. He’s never going to be fit.

“That helps in these moments as a coach, that transfers. That’s why we got 101 points last season because we didn’t rest, we just carried on.

“It’s a cycle for me. This is year two in a cycle of three, four or five years. I see a very exciting team within this.”

Thankfully for Kompany his sister Christel came through her cancer ordeal.

“If you talk about character and strength of character, she is an incredible woman,” Kompany said.