When Burnley boss Vincent Kompany met up with KRC Genk coach Wouter Vrancken last summer, it did not take long before the conversation turned to Mike Tresor Ndayishimiye.
“Vincent and I like the same profile of player,” Vrancken tells Het Laaste Nieuws. “I’ll give you a scoop; at the start of the season, he asked me about my plans for Tresor. If I didn’t need him, I had to let him know.
“’Just stay away from him’, I replied naturally.”
You only need to look at the numbers to realise why Vrancken gave no thought to cashing in on a man who crossed the border from the Netherlands into Belgium in 2021 following a fine spell at Willem II.
Burnley boss Vincent Kompany is a fan of Mike Tresor Ndayishimiye
The Jupiler League’s Golden Boot race is still very much an open field; former Tottenham flop Vincent Janssen hoping to pull clear following Paul Onunachu’s January switch to Southampton. Ndayishimiye, however, is turning the battle to be named the division’s best creator into of a one-horse pursuit.
No one has more assists this term than Tresor’s 18. In fact, that is double the next-best tally of nine; set by Union Saint Gilloise’s Teddy Teuma and Genk team-mate Joseph Paintsil.
As you might expect, no one manages more key passes per game either (2.9, WhoScored). Tresor, who has six goals of his own, also manages the most successful crosses in Belgium’s top-flight. He ranks near the top for completed dribbles too.
With Burnley cruising at the top of the Championship – Vincent Kompany’s side a Premier League team in-waiting – the prospect of Tresor joining fellow Jupiler League imports Anass Zaroury, Josh Cullen and Manuel Benson at Turf Moor is the stuff of nightmares as far as opposition backlines are concerned.
‘You have to play abroad’
Tresor’s absence from Domenico Tedesco’s first Belgium squad, meanwhile, is a source of much debate back home.
“I think Tresor should have been called up,” KV Kortrijk captain Kristof D’Haene tells Extra Time on Sporza. “His statistics in the Belgian league are excellent. What more does he have to do to be selected? I don’t understand.”
Belgian legend Franky Van Der Elst, meanwhile, believes that Tresor’s omission could have the Antwerp-born 23-year-old considering his future at club level.
“I think it’s clear that you have to play abroad,” Van der Elst explains. “To have more chance of being selected.”
Food for thought, then, if Burnley opt to renew their interest in one of European football’s most prosperous attacking midfielders when their return to the Premier League is confirmed.
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