He’s already played for Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, and Everton, among others, and a move to Vincent Kompany’s Burnley was on the cards this summer.
The 32-year-old had supposedly been without a club since leaving the Toffees, a move that was most doubt impacted by the player’s ACL injury in March 2022.
According to BBC Sport, he had been on trial with the Clarets and had even played in friendlies against Benfica, Real Betis, and Genk.
Not only that, but the player had even agreed to terms with the club, which is currently joint bottom of the standings with no wins and only a point to their record.
Things were looking bright until Kompany pulled the plug on the agreement, which Townsend has attributed to his forced 18-month break.
“The situation is I’ve not played a competitive match for 18 months so because of my age and lack of minutes English clubs can’t take that risk,” he was reported to have stated.
“I looked abroad, thinking clubs would be desperate to sign a player with my experience, but it was the same story, no minutes.”
“The ACL is a very complex injury and when players get it in the latter stages of their career they sometimes never fully recover to their previous selves, so that’s the worry.”
It’s a choice that clearly irritated the footballer, as he acknowledged to BBC Sport that the snub brought him to tears.
“It was probably one of the toughest conversations I’ve had in my career,” Townsend said.
“I could prepare myself if I was bad and knew I wasn’t going to get a contract.” But to be looking at residences, schools, and talking about squad numbers, only to be told the contract is no longer available, rocked my life.”
At the moment, the player has yet to find a club, and if he does not find one soon, it is likely that his career at the highest level will be gone.
Leave a Reply