Burnley’s hunt for a new manager has gone on for nearly two months now, but it may finally be in its last act, with Nicky Hayen emerging as their number one option.

The Clarets have been without a regular manager since April 30, when Scott Parker departed by mutual consent after their relegation from the Premier League was confirmed.

Mike Jackson took over as temporary manager for the final four games of the season, but few anticipated him to remain in charge when Burnley began their pre-season, with the club flying to the United States on Tuesday, July 7 for a series of friendlies across the Atlantic.

Former assistant coach Craig Bellamy should have been in place by now, but the Wales National Team manager elected to stay with his country ahead of the home Euros in a few years.

A move for former Wolves boss Rob Edwards in the aftermath of Bellamy’s decision fell flat, but now, they are in advanced talks with Genk boss Nicky Hayen, per Pete O’Rourke, who won the Belgian Pro League with Club Brugge two seasons ago and took his current club to the Europa League’s Round of 16 this past campaign.

Burnley fan pundit reacts to Nicky Hayen, management update

Aside from a five-month stint in Wales managing Haverfordwest County in 2022, Hayen’s managerial career has been entirely in his own Belgium.

Many Burnley fans are unaware of Hayen’s work, and Aaron Wright, FLW’s Clarets fan analyst, is unsure how to react to the current reports. Initially, his sentiments were favourable, as he appears to have brought success to his prior clubs.”He explained, “I’m in two thought processes.”

“The first is that he did superbly at Club Brugge, coming in, walking the play-offs in his first year and having a solid enough second season before they replaced him.”At Genk, he seemed to have done well. The Belgian league works strangely, so I can’t say how well he fared, but he seemed to have done decently.

He plays a lot of possession football, which should make him entertaining and help us score a lot of goals.”

Ultimately, his good views on Hayen’s style and recent history at the top of the Belgian Pro League are obscured by the fact that the upper management has recently consulted former manager Vincent Kompany to see who he believes is up to the role.

The current Bayern Munich manager was in charge at Turf Moor for a few years before joining the German giants, and the Belgian would most likely have stayed with the Clarets in 2024 if Bayern hadn’t approached him.

Wright believes that Burnley’s owner used Kompany’s positive relationship with Alan Pace to select a new manager for the upcoming season.My second idea is that this screams for us to call Vincent Kompany and ask, “Who do you think is suitable for us?” The fan pundit revealed that he has an excellent relationship with the owners,

so it’s a reasonable assumption.that’s not like they came up with someone fantastic out of nowhere; I seriously doubt that. I may be thinking the worst, but it appears like we’ve called Kompany and heard what he says, so we’ll see how things move.”

Nicky Hayen might be a hit at Burnley if Vincent Kompany has recommended him.

While it may be a cheaper and easier option to consult a previous manager rather than go looking for someone on your own, if that is what has happened, there may be less seals of approval better than Kompany’s today.

The 40-year-old is widely regarded as one of the top managers in world football today, having won back-to-back Bundesliga titles in his first two years in command, the DFB Pokal last season, and guiding Bayern to the Champions League semi-finals last year.

If he has also recommended Hayen to Alan Pace and others, it is unlikely that the Burnley board will just acquiesce. They will conduct their own investigation and determine whether they believe he is capable of leading the Clarets back to the Premier League.

Hayen will have large shoes to fill when it comes to bringing success in the second division, since both Kompany and Parker oversaw 100-point campaigns and promotion on their first try.

Only time will tell if he’ll be able to, assuming he is the man they chose. If he follows in Kompany’s footsteps, Burnley could have another excellent manager on their hands.