NATHAN Tella consulted family and close friends before deciding to make a season-long loan to Burnley, adding: “They all assured me it’s the right decision.”

The 23-year-old Saints academy graduate will spend the campaign playing for Manchester City legend Vincent Kompany, who arrived at relegated Clarets this summer.

After he played just 800 minutes in the Premier League last campaign, manager Ralph Hasenhuttl admitted he decided to let Tella go and pursue regular gametime elsewhere.

Tella has battled injury throughout his senior career and even up to this pre-season, where he missed out on the final three matches through a fresh concern.

And assessing the opportunity for a loan, Tella told Burnley’s club website: “Once the opportunity arose for me to come here, this is where my head has been at.

“I’ve been wanting to play football consistently for a while now, and now the opportunity has come up here, it’s one I’m just happy to have.”

He continued: “(Playing football regularly) is something I wanted to do over the last year, but didn’t play as much as I’d have liked.

“Now, going into this season, I didn’t want a season similar to the last one, and the opportunity was there for me to go on loan.

“I want to play consistently and show people what I can do. I spoke to my family and friends about it, and they all assured me that it’s the right decision.”

At the time of writing, Tella was set to feature as Burnley visited fellow promotion challengers Watford on Friday evening (8PM).

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