Vincent Kompany prepared for Burnley fight as he reveals heartbreaking Hamburg double despair

His team may be second bottom of the English Premier League with just one point from five games, but Vincent Kompany has had to come through far greater adversity in his career.

The Burnley boss is best known for leading Manchester City to multiple league titles and cups, as well as leading Belgium at major tournaments. But the former centre back has opene dup on how tough things got for him after he became the record signing in Hamburg's history. The Bundesliga paid €10million to prise him away from Anderlecht back in 2006. But the then 20-year-old managed just six games before a serious injury ruled him out for the rest of the season.

The German giants ended up battling relegation that term as a host of stars ended up crocked and out of action long term. But Kompany was fighting more persona battles off the pitch, as a double whammy of family tragedy only compounded the difficulty of being away from home for the first time and stuck on the sidelines in a foreign country.

Reflecting on the tough times, he said: "Just life in general. You talk about Hamburg, I was the biggest signing there in the history of the club. I got there and I was injured straight away. Tore my Achilles tendon and was out for nine months. My mother passed away in that time. I was out of the house for the first time, my sister got cancer and the club was fighting against relegation after they came from the Champions League.

"All the big players; Nigel De Jong, Jerome Boateng, Rafael van der Vaart - everyone was injured at the same time. So the squad we assembled was not playing the games anymore. I spent Christmas at the club, working out hard on my own, because what's the point of going home? But you get out of it. Eventually you get out of it.

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