How Injury Prevented Burnley Midfielder From Playing In The Champions League
Britain Soccer Football – Burnley v Hull City – Premier League – Turf Moor – 10/9/16
Burnley’s Steven Defour celebrates scoring their first goal Reuters / Anthony Devlin
Burnley midfielder Steven Defour has opened up about how a dream move to Manchester United collapsed, leaving him heart-broken.
The Belgian had been tracked by Sir Alex Ferguson for quite a while. However, just before the legendary Scotsman was going to move in for him, the midfielder suffered an agonising injury – a broken bone in his foot.
Sir Alex then wrote a letter to Defour in 2009, wishing him a speedy recovery and promising to keep an eye on him.
However, the 28-year-old has admitted that it was hard to get back to his best as soon as he recovered, and the opportunity of representing United in a competition such as the Champions League had escaped him.
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Speaking to Sky Sports News HQ, he said: “Before my injury it [a United move] was one of the possibilities, because I knew they were following me but then came that severe injury and that was quite a hard one from me.
“It was an open fracture of my foot and I was really down because, for the first time, I could have played in the Champions League and then three days before I broke my foot so I was really down.
“It was difficult to find my form before my injury to have the level of a club like Manchester United.”
Defour joined Burnley this summer, and became their record-signing after sealing an £8m pound move from Anderlecht in August. He is confident that the club have invested wisely, and that he will do his best to help the Clarets avoid relegation this season.
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“I just want to show my quality to help Burnley and to stay in the Premier League,” he said.
“He [Burnley boss Sean Dyche] asked me to get the ball, to take my responsibility and get the team playing. It’s really a group, it’s really a team. It’s a team that really fits together and everybody is working for everybody.”
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