CORNET HAS BROUGHT QUALITY
BURNLEY’S Maxwel Cornet has scored the same number of Premier League goals as Harry Kane and Heung-min Son combined so far this season.
Add up the totals from Spurs’ other scorers – Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Dele Alli, Tanguy Ndombele and Sergio Reguilon – and the Turf Moor revelation still cannot be outgunned ahead of the teams’ meeting today.
Cornet’s five strikes have proved crucial to Burnley not finding themselves cut adrift in the relegation zone.
The £15million summer signing from Lyon’s goals have all come in games the Clarets have taken points from – draws with Leicester, Southampton and Crystal Palace as well as a win over Brentford.
And in East Lancashire this afternoon Cornet, 25, will be hoping to continue the vein of form which has caught the eye.
Former Burnley defender Stephen Ward insists it should be no surprise that he has impressed because of the way in which manager Sean Dyche operates his scouting system. Ward – now at Walsall – said: “Burnley work in a different landscape to other clubs. It’s about quality more than quantity of players in terms of squad size.
“The club is stable and they want to keep it that way, they don’t sign for the sake of it.
“Throughout my time there they always did their homework on players coming in the door.
“More often than not they were the right fit for the club and the right fit for the way the manager wants to work and how he wants his team to work.
“So it doesn’t surprise me that they have spent this kind of money on a player who has made the kind of impact as Maxwel.
“He’s come in because there would have been a lot of thought and research put into the transfer.
“He’s been unbelievable and speaking to the lads I still know there, he’s not only really talented which you can see on the pitch, but he has fitted in and he’s a great lad in the dressing room and a character you want beside you.
“The spirit that’s been in the dressing room is something that has brought the club a long way. It was one of the best I was ever in.”
Whether Cornet will be prised away in January remains to be seen – and Ward feels it will take an eye-watering bid for Dyche to contemplate losing a player who only agreed a five-year deal in August.
|He added: “Burnley have dealt with this for years. The team is settled in the Premier League so they have players performing to a high level consistently.
“So it’s credit to the staff and manager that you have your best players linked with other clubs.
“If Maxwel keeps going the way he is, there are clubs who will be interested.
“But Burnley are in a solid financial place so won’t be under pressure to sell, unless they get an offer they can’t refuse.”