Burnley FC coach Scott Parker has welcomed the full return of South African striker Lyle Foster to the Sky Bet Championship side ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Middlesbrough FC.
After saying the former Orlando Pirates striker had weeks before recovering fully from a knee injury, Parker named the Bafana Bafana forward on the substitutes’ bench in the Boxing Day win against Sheffield United. He even featured in that game as the Clarets moved to within a point of the leaders United.
With fixtures coming thick and fast in this crowded festive season and the Clarets hit by suspensions and injuries, Parker said he would bank on the Johannesburg-born star in the match against Middlesbrough. Burnley will then turn their attention to meetings with Stoke City on New Year’s Day and Leeds United on the road in the subsequent weeks.
“We’ve been struggling with injuries over the last few months and we have a lot of attacking players missing in particular, so I’m pleased to have Lyle back and give him some minutes,” Parker told Burnley FC's website. "He brings a different quality to the strikers we have already. He’s a different profile to what Zian [Flemming] is, as well as Andreas [Hountondji] and Jay Rodriguez.”
The 24-year-old suffered a knee injury while featuring for South Africa in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in October, the latest setback for the player who was sidelined by reported mental illness issues in the last AFCON final edition held in Ivory Coast.
Foster, who has one goal in ten matches this season, joined Burnley in 2023 on a four-and-a-half-year contract from KVC Westerlo in Belgium. His availability should boost the Clarets' promotion hopes as they sit a point behind the leaders Sheffield United.
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