Vincent Kompany insists he will continue to be 'very cautious' with Lyle Foster

Bafana Bafana forward Foster made a surprise return - his first appearance since October - to start the second half in the 2-0 Premier League home defeat to Everton last weekend.

Foster is in contention to start at Fulham on Saturday but Kompany said: "I'm still very cautious over his rehabilitation, this is just a step.

"His natural environment includes football and the goal is to put him back in his natural environment.

"I™m a little bit careful with that but playing makes him happy - and when he's happy he's able to do really good things for us.

"Obviously we don™t just rely on Lyle, but it's good for us to have a key player back of course."

Kompany stressed after the Everton game that Foster would not be available for next month's Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.

He said: "I've made it pretty clear that he loves his country and loves playing for his country.

"But for his own benefit, for the human Lyle Foster, he needs to stay in a smaller environment.

"He needs to be in an environment where he still has the support of the experts who got him through the first phase and ourselves as well.

"It's nothing more than looking after the human being and he's not too concerned by anything at the moment other than his own health.

"But don't be surprised to see him play for us because that's actually part of his process in getting back to a normal life."

Burnley will spend Christmas in the relegation zone after picking up only eight points from their opening 17 games.

The Clarets sit six points adrift of safety and Kompany accepts entering the January transfer market comes with huge risk.

He said: "It's fair to say it's a little bit of a dilemma. Lots of our players are having their first year in the Premier League and the truth is our squad will improve.

"Whether you can go out there in January and get the right type of player to turn it round and at the same time not expose yourself to something completely criminal if you go down¦ it's a fine balancing act.

"In the end the market will dictate. If the right opportunity is there I'm sure we'll be able to do something, but we can't go chasing something if it's not."

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