Bafana Bafana have suffered a huge blow ahead of the Afcon 2023 tournament after Burnley blocked star forward Lyle Foster from travelling with the side to Ivory Coast.

Foster has not played since early November after taking a break from football due to mental health issues.

Despite his inactivity, South Africa national team coach Hugo Broos named him in the preliminary squad for the continental showpiece.

But Burnley boss Vincent Kompany has ruled the 23-year-old out of the tournament.

The gaffer told BBC Sports: “Unfortunately at the moment he is not in a position where he can go to the national team. He just can’t.

“It is not something he can do at the moment, going away for a long time and being in a very different environment.

“His love for his country has no limits and his desire to do well has no limits, but that would be going against the advice of every expert that has been assisting him in recent months.”

Kompany added: “Conversations are ongoing but it is difficult for him to manage and for me because I am a coach of African origin. Afcon is very important. I feel very proud of any of our players representing us there because that tournament deserves the same importance as the Euros.

“For his conditions specifically, the human being that we have treated in the past month, he is not at a stage where he can do any of that. Hopefully in the future he can do much more for everybody on the big stage, but step by step.”