Burnley's Lyle Foster returns to South Africa setup following public fallout

The 23-year-old hasn’t played for his country since October of last year following a fallout with coach Hugo Broos.

The Burnley striker was left out of Bafana Bafana’s squad for January’s African Cup of Nations while he received specialist care for his mental health.

Foster missed eight weeks of action for the Clarets between October and mid-December after taking an indefinite break from the game.

The striker himself wrote to the South African FA informing them he wasn’t ready to feature at AFCON, while doctors also advised Foster that he needed to remain in familiar surroundings.

However, Broos and the South African FA have consistently expressed their frustration with the situation. It was even reported in South Africa that the country’s FA were to launch an investigation.

“Honestly, I am not happy, I knew from the beginning what the problems were,” Broos said, as quoted by Times Live.

“I knew and I was understanding [of the situation] because I spoke a few times with Vincent Kompany.

“Our doctor spoke to his counterpart at Burnley. We put everything together and decided it was not a good thing to call Foster for AFCON.

“Lyle Foster himself wrote a letter to say, 'Please don't call me because I am not ready to play AFCON'. But then he starts playing for his club and he plays every game for 90 minutes.

“I am asking myself why it wasn't possible for him to come with us to Ivory Coast.

“This is my frustration, but I will not blame anyone. I am frustrated when I see him play because we could have used him at AFCON.

“He is a good striker and he scores. If we had Lyle we were going to be much stronger.”

However, the situation now appears to have been resolved given Foster has been named in South Africa’s preliminary 36-man squad for their June double header.

Broos’ side face Nigeria away from home on Friday, June 7 before hosting Zimbabwe in Bloemfontein on Tuesday, June 11.

The final 23-member squad will be announced in the next few days.

Foster has been capped 14 times by his country, scoring on four occasions.