Bafana coach Broos will travel to Burnley if he cannot get answers on Foster

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos will try to speak directly to Burnley striker Lyle Foster to get clarity on his situation with the national team and whether he is available for two friendlies next month.

Broos said if he is not successful in establishing Foster's situation on his availability for friendlies in Algeria against Andorra (March 21) and Algeria (March 26) by phone, the coach will travel to Burnley in April to confront the striker face to face.

The coach again expressed his frustration that Foster, 23, withdrew from the squad of the bronze medallists at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) but was playing 90-minute matches for Burnley soon after the striker’s return from mental health issues. Foster received psychological treatment and was out of the game for seven weeks late last year.

Broos said he has also been trying to get answers from Burnley manager Vincent Kompany, the former Manchester City star who the Bafana Bafana coach gave a professional debut to at Anderlecht in 2003.

The coach said he was told on Thursday Foster, who was not in the squad when Burnley lost 3-1 to Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, now needs an operation for an undisclosed injury.

“It [the Afcon situation] frustrated me,” Broos told a round table of South African football journalists on Friday.

“Yes, Lyle has his problems, or had his problems — we know that because I was well informed by Kompany and by Burnley. Their doctor contacted me a few months ago to let me know exactly what the problem was.

“At that time, and then I spoke to them at the end of November, we understood it would be difficult for Lyle to be with us at Afcon.

“He wrote a letter telling us he couldn’t come to Afcon and he was very sorry, but I still put him in my preliminary squad of about 50 players because I hoped [he could make it].

“Then he started playing — 45 minutes, a whole game — and I thought, ‘OK, maybe we can take him with [us]’.

“We contacted [Burnley] again and I said, ‘Hey what’s happening again?’. They said, ‘No, no, he’s not ready to play Afcon, it’s impossible, blah blah blah... ’.

“Then I’m asking myself, ‘He can play 90 minutes in the Premier League, why can’t he play 90 for us in Afcon?’.”

Broos was asked if the door is open for Foster’s return to Bafana.

“I got a message yesterday [Thursday] he has to be operated on. I was messaging Kompany to see what is happening and if he would be available for the end of March.

“Available mentally, but also would he be recovered from the operation. For the moment I don’t know [and] I don’t know which injury this is now. I think in a few days I will know more.

“I messaged the [South African Football Association] doctor [Thulani Ngwenya] to say please make contact with Burnley and see what’s happening.

“But it will not be, ‘OK, Lyle come now [back to the squad], like nothing [has] happened. I will talk to him first and see how he sees the situation.

“And when Foster comes that means everybody wants him to come, otherwise you will have a big problem.”

Last year Broos left Foster out of some lesser Bafana matches — including the 2-1 dead-rubber, Afcon-qualifying win against Morocco in Johannesburg — apparently in an agreement with Kompany that the striker would be available for important national games, such as Afcon.

Broos was asked if he is disappointed, given that relationship with Kompany, at how things turned out.

“In a situation like that, you think of three or four scenarios [for why it changed] and sometimes things that are not there, because you want to find an explanation for why that is.

“There was a guy who told me ... he [Foster] extended his contract and there was a clause that he could not go to Afcon. I don’t know; I don’t believe that.

“But sometimes you think, ‘Maybe’, though you can’t say that if you don’t have the proof. I think the best thing to do is contact him and see what the situation is. Is he ready for March?

“But if he is not ready for March, I will go to Burnley and talk to him and see what the situation is.”

Foster has played four Premier League matches as a substitute and started three for relegation-threatened Burnley (19th place out of 20), plus half an FA Cup game, since his return to the squad in mid-December.