Connor Roberts: Wales and Burnley man aims to emulate Vincent Kompany as coach in future

Wales defender Connor Roberts says working under Vincent Kompany at Burnley has convinced him to pursue a coaching career after he retires.

Former Manchester City captain Kompany led Burnley to promotion to the Premier League this season.

Roberts, who is in Wales’ squad for Monday’s Euro 2024 qualifier in Turkey, wants to emulate the Belgian, who he has tipped as a future City boss.

“I had no interest in being a coach or a manager before,” said Roberts.

“But working with Vincent and his staff, I feel like I know a lot more about football now so I might want to see if I can do it as well, but that is maybe something for a later date.

“I can’t express how good Vincent and his staff are.

“I thought I knew quite a lot about football, about how to play and what to do but this season, working with them, now I know a lot more.”

Kompany has transformed the way Burnley play, dispensing with his predecessors’ direct approach and implementing a new expansive, possession-based ethos.

One of the his many tactical changes has been to ask his full-backs to play inverted roles where they move into midfield, similar to Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool and Manchester City’s many fluidly positioned defenders.

“Vincent Kompany and his staff are so good at getting their point across about what they expect of you,” said Roberts.

“I felt so comfortable. I felt there was nothing in my mind that I was unsure about. When I was playing there I knew what to do basically all of the time.

“When I watch games now, almost the messages he portrays come into your head.

“You know what to do in every situation from build-up to attack to defending in different parts of the pitch.

“Obviously it depends on the players’ ability or you might make a mistake, but I feel like 99% of the time when the ball is on the pitch or at a set-piece, I feel like I know what I am supposed to be doing.

“In football you often meet players who don’t know what they are doing a lot of the time but if you look at that Burnley squad, every single player, even the ones who hardly played know what to do if they were asked to play.”

Kompany shares many of the same coaching ideals as his former Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, who he will be reunited with when the Premier League champions visit Burnley on the opening weekend of next season.

Former Swansea City player Roberts sees how Kompany has been influenced by his Treble-winning mentor.

“I watch Man City and we aren’t them but I see massive similarities in the way we are asked to play,” said Roberts.

“We might not be able to do it as good as they can but you do see similarities.

“I think Vincent will go and have that Man City job one day.”

Before rejoining Kompany and the Burnley squad to prepare for the new season, Roberts still has a game left in the current campaign.

He was a part of the Wales side humbled 4-2 at home by lowly Armenia in a Euro 2024 qualifier on Friday.

Now they travel to Group D leaders Turkey on Monday hoping to revive their bid to reach next summer’s tournament in Germany.

Roberts scored when Wales last met Turkey at Euro 2020 in 2021, sealing a 2-0 victory in Azerbaijan which went a long way to securing Wales’ place in the knockout stages.

“I am looking forward to it, hopefully I play,” said the 27-year-old.

“I am sure there will be plenty of fans and a good atmosphere and to jog the memory of what I did at the Euros will be brilliant.

“It is the goal when everything is said and done that I will probably look back on and think I can’t believe I achieved that.

“But that is in the past and I have to create more memories as an individual and as a team.”