Andros Townsend completed his first 90 minutes of football in 17 months by turning out for Burnley in a friendly.
The winger has been training with the Clarets this summer following the end of his contract with Everton at the end of last term.
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The 31-year-old endured a disappointing time with the Toffees, missing the entirety of the 2022/23 campaign as a result of a knee injury.
In fact, Townsend’s last competitive action at first team level was in March 2022 – a one-minute cameo in a home win over Newcastle.
Since then it’s been a long road to recovery but the former Tottenham and Crystal Palace star is now finally ready to compete at the highest level again.
Burnley are on the look out for Premier League experience after securing promotion to the top flight under Vincent Kompany last term.
With Townsend joining the club on trial earlier in July, the former England international was included from the off in the pre-season friendly with Benfica on Tuesday night.
While a 2-0 win for the Clarets was an encouraging boost for them, it was the 90 minutes of action for Townsend that he was most happy about – even if his name had to be left off the team sheet.
Taking to Instagram stories, he wrote: “First 90 mins in 17 months,” with a heart eyes emoji.
He also wrote: “And a new name apparently,” in reference to his listing as a trialist on the Burnley teamsheet.
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English clubs can only publicise the name of a player competing if he is formally registered as a player of the club, meaning that Townsend remained officially anonymous for the match.
However with 264 Premier League appearances to his name and 13 England caps, it won’t have taken fans long to figure out who Burnley’s mystery number 31 might be.
It remains to be seen if Townsend will have done enough to earn a contract with Burnley, but with 90 minutes under his belt, it surely means that he is ready to be a reliable performer following his long-term injury absence.
