Vincent Kompany has "had a blast" piecing together his project at Burnley

The Manchester City legend — a four-time Premier League winner — has piloted a transformational period at Turf Moor since accepting the managerial role in June.

A total of 13 players departed in the summer and the Clarets closed the transfer window with 16 new recruits, including deadline day signings Jordan Beyer (on loan from Borussia Monchengladbach) and Halil Dervisoglu (on loan from Brentford).

It has been a project like no other for the 36-year-old Belgian, but he has embraced the challenge. The former RSC Anderlecht boss said: "I've absolutely had a blast. I've loved it. I've never been one for the easy challenges, but this feels natural to me. It's something that I wanted to do.

"The challenge was diverse in so many ways, coming to a new league, with the Championship being one of the most physical leagues in the world, you go into a heavy schedule, a turnover of squad and style of play as well. All of that is something that I've really embraced. I've really enjoyed it.

"I think with the amount of players we got in we have to be happy. It was a big unknown; obviously when I came to Burnley I had an idea of where I wanted the squad to be, but you don't know which players will want to come and you don't know how well you'll sit in the market."

Goalkeeper Arijanet Muric, Josh Cullen and Taylor Harwood-Bellis are among the five players to have started every Championship fixture so far, with Charlie Taylor and Connor Roberts also playing every minute.

Southampton's Nathan Tella has three goals in four starts since his temporary switch from St Mary's and is just a single finish behind leading scorers Jay Rodriguez and Josh Brownhill.

Ian Maatsen had impressed prior to his dismissal against Blackpool, Vitinho has a goal and an assist to his name and midfielder Samuel Bastien got off the mark against Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium.

"When I look back on it now I think it's been a tremendous effort from everyone at the football club to get the players in," said Kompany. "We haven't really achieved anything yet, or maybe we have in ensuring that there is a football team at Burnley that can give us something to look forward to.

"The biggest conclusion is that we've been an attractive proposition to attract players. It wasn't always that we offered the best financial package, I think we were able to convince a lot of players to come because we have a clear pathway for them.

"That was a big thing for me because there weren't many players that we missed out on. We were consistently able to bring over the players that we wanted. It's been good for us."

And there is more to come. Beyer, Dervisoglu, CJ Egan-Riley, Darko Churlinov, Luke McNally and Scott Twine have yet to make a start while 25-year-old Manuel Benson has been named in the first XI once since making his move from Royal Antwerp.

After accumulating 13 points from eight games, with the Clarets sitting fifth in the table on the back of suffering a solitary defeat, Kompany concluded: "It's an exciting part now because we can start developing them and improving them.

"I'm really looking forward to the future with these guys because I think with their work-rate they're going to get close to being as good as they can be.

"Every team has a ceiling, they have a maximum, but you want to be as close to that as you can be. That's something that lives within this team."