SUPER STRIKER

He' been named one of the most promising young players to watch and SA's Lyle Foster is living up to expectations as he takes up his role at a top-flight English side

- KESHIA AFRICA

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”.