AT THE age of five he snuck out of his house to play football with friends at a pitch far from his family’s home. His parents eventually tracked him down after a panicked hours-long search, grateful he hadn’t been harmed.
“I remember looking up, seeing my parents and thinking I was in trouble,” Lyle Foster recalls. “But my dad took me from that pitch to buy me my first pair of soccer boots.”
Lyle’s love of the beautiful game endured from that time and has now taken him to the big leagues, breaking records along the way.
The 22-year-old Johannesburg-born forward has become the most expensive homegrown footballer ever, following a whopping €11 million (R231m) transfer fee from KVC Westerlo in Belgium to recently minted English Premier League side Burnley FC.
Lyle was hand-picked for The Clarets by Vincent Kompany, the legendary Manchester City defender and the club’s current manager.
“It feels surreal,” Lyle tells YOU when we catch up with him at the Shelley Point golf estate on the Cape West Coast where he’s having a rare day off.
“I give all glory to God for this moment. This is a dream I’ve always prayed for and believed in.”
Wearing a blue Adidas jacket and sporting his classic double eyebrow slit, Lyle’s face lights up with each mention of Burnley. “I’m just excited, I can’t describe it,” he says. “The transfer fee is crazy when you think about that amount. It’s not just small change”.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
BALLON IN THE BAG
Manchester City midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante says his Ballon d'Or win is a victory for Spanish football
IT WAS ALL A LIE
A new doccie exposes the Grey's Anatomy writer who fabricated her life story
'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP'
After her husband, anticorruption activist Alexei Navalny, was poisoned and murdered by the Kremlin, she became the public face of Russia's opposition. In this candid interview Yulia Navalnaya opens up about life on the run, her perilous family life and why she's continuing her husband's fight to save their country
AGREE TO DISAGREE
Trevor Noah on how his childhood squabbles with his mother inspired his delightful new book
PAUSE THE CLOCK
Researchers have discovered that the ageing process spikes at 44 and 60. Here's what you can do to slow it down
MPOOMY ON TOP
We chat to SA's most popular female podcaster about love, loss and her booming success
MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BLAME
Tinus Drotské says his sibling, ex Bok Nǎka, is the victim in the brawl with a neighbour that landed up in court
MATT THE RECLUSE
A year after his friend's tragic death, the actor continues to shun the spotlight
A LEAP OF FAITH
After her husband tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute she thought she'd never trust a man again-but now she's found love
THEY'RE MY KIDS!
This West Coast woman treats her monkeys as iftheyre humans and animal activists are not happy about it