Vincent Kompany is well underway as he sets about revamping Burnley ahead of their return to the Championship. The Belgian is embarking on his first managerial job in England, having left Anderlecht after two years in charge.
He takes over a Clarets side still reeling after their six-year Premier League stay ended on the final day of last season. A host of key players such as Nick Pope, James Tarkowski and Ben Mee have since departed. And a clutch of stars still under contract, such as Dwight McNeil and Maxwell Cornet are expected to be poached before the transfer window shuts.
Kompany has already brought in four players including highly-rated Scott Twine and Luke McNally.
He has also brought in two signings from his old club Manchester City. Defenders CJ Egan-Riley and Taylor Harwood-Bellis were both snapped up last week. Egan-Riley signs on a four-year deal whilst Harwood-Bellis will stay for the 2022-23 campaign on a season-long loan arrangement.
Now, reports say Kompany is ready to raid his old club for a third time with a move for goalkeeper Arijanet Muric. The 23-year-old, who has represented Kosovo at international level, is firmly out of the picture at City who have Ederson, new signing Stefan Ortega, Zack Steffen and veteran Scott Carson in their ranks.
Although Steffen is set to be loaned out to Middlesbrough, it appears City are reluctant to once again loan out Muric after five loan spells in the last four years. He has been despatched to clubs in the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey and also had a forgettable spell at Nottingham Forest.
City would be happy to let Muric depart on a permanent deal provided a fee could be agreed. The player has been at City since 2015 but his only appearances for his parent club in that time have come in the Carabao Cup.
Demirspor, who play in the Turkish Super Lig, were his most recent loan side and they have also been linked with a move along with Burnley.
Muric's spell at Forest back in the 2019-20 was pretty much a disaster. His City Ground stay technically lasted the entire season but he made a mere five outings - all of which came in the opening two months of the campaign.
He made two big, costly errors on his debut at home to West Brom on the opening day. He first allowed a shot to squeeze through him before a looping effort caught him out from long range.
Following the mistakes, which saw Forest lose 2-1 manager Sabri Lamouchi gave Muric his backing, saying: "The second goal can happen. Many goalkeepers would have conceded that goal. The first one was of the type that can be avoided. But Aro is a young keeper and he has a lot of quality. He will help us a lot this season. He needs to learn from this."
Unfortunately Muric would play just a handful more times before being ostracised. Now, a move back to the Championship with Burnley would give him the chance to right the wrongs of three years ago.
