South African football legend Quinton Fortune has called for Bafana Bafana striker Lyle Foster to be supported, as he goes through a tough time in his career.
Foster, 25, managed just three goals for Burnley in the Premier League last season, with the Clarets ultimately suffering relegation to the Championship.
He then played just once at the 2026 World Cup, featuring for 56 minutes against Mexico before being substituted in a 2-0 defeat. Foster did not play another minute in the matches against Czechia, South Korea and Canada.
The striker was then left out of Burnley’s squad for their EFL League Cup clash against Notts County this past weekend, after featuring only briefly in their final pre-season matches against Torino and Espanyol.
Foster seems to be fighting an uphill battle – with the devastating loss of Bafana Bafana teammate Jayden Adams last month only adding to this – and Fortune hopes that the player is given the mental support he needs to get through this troubled time.
“I hope he will come back stronger for South Africa after this World Cup because I was looking forward to watching Lyle, thinking he can bring that experience of being a Premier League player to lead the team because so much is expected from him,” Fortune told Premier Bet.
“I think for Lyle it’s probably just a lack of confidence and every player goes through that, but I was really rooting for him during the World Cup given the prospect of having Lyle up front.
“He must have something to him because otherwise why would Vincent Kompany have brought him to Burnley?
“I just think he’s a player going through a difficult time and he probably just needs an arm around the shoulder. He needs support.
“I was lucky when I came over to Europe, I was 14. Everything for me seemed like an adventure. These guys like Lyle are probably having a tough time. They left home later so it might be a little bit harder for them to adapt, but the quality is there.
“Lyle needs the support from his family, his teammates and his manager because when a striker isn’t scoring goals, that’s all they want to do. It’s like defenders who want to defend and keep their clean sheets. I’m sure he can pull himself through it.”
A season in the Championship could prove beneficial for Foster, according to Fortune: “As a player you don’t want to get relegated. It’s something you never want to experience.
“But look, Lyle needs to play and strikers want to be scoring goals. Scoring goals in the Premier League is even better, it’s the best league in the world, but the Championship is a tough league because there’s no nonsense down there.
“The games come thick and fast. In one month you can win three games and a week later you lose three games. It’s just like that, up and down.
“Hopefully he can get some early goals and get his confidence back because the Championship is not going to be easy. It’s a brutal league.
“It can do him a lot of good though. He will feel much better if he can start to find the back of the net again for Burnley.”
