Since the middle of August, the entire Saints team has scored four goals. Nathan Tella has five in that same period of time. The competition is different and the defenders faced are of a significantly lower quality, but the overarching point is the same: Nathan Tella is thriving.
After starting just ten Premier League games last season, Tella’s Saints career had started to feel like it could stall despite signing a new long-term contract in January. A fresh opportunity and a chance to play regularly was needed and that presented itself with a move on loan to Burnley in the summer.
It didn’t take long for the winger to announce himself to the Championship, scoring twice on his full debut and immediately taking the Clarets community by storm.
“It helped that he scored twice on his first start - that doesn’t do you any harm with the supporters!” Burnley writer for LancsLive Alex James told the Daily Echo. “But he’s a player who naturally gets fans excited because wingers often do, he’s got an eye for goal, his first touch is excellent.
“His goal on Saturday at Coventry, he scored that in front of the away end and just stood there with a big beaming smile on his face. He had his own chant within what felt like half an hour of signing! So yeah, the fans do really like him. He’s active on Instagram and TikTok so he’s connecting with the fans in that way as well.”
That introductory brace in a 3-3 draw with Cardiff City proved to be no flash in the pan with his tally of five goals arriving in ten starts including two in his last three. Meanwhile, his goals have come at a rate of one every 145 minutes, seventh-best in the Championship amongst players with five or more strikes.
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With Vincent Kompany largely utilising a 4-2-3-1 system this season, Tella has become a crucial piece of Burnley’s promotion-chasing puzzle, making eight starts at left wing and one on the right.
Burnley have kept a Championship-high 65.4% of the ball and Tella’s role as chief creative instigator can not be understated.
“Burnley have had a lot of the ball this season and at times they’ve struggled to break teams down who are sitting in,” James continued. “He’s the one player who you think can create something out of nothing, or do that on the most consistent basis. He’s great to have on the counter-attack too. His pace and his attitude have been the main two areas that have caught the eye.”
Saints fans will have become accustomed to Tella’s blistering pace but he’s finally getting a chance to utilise his physical gifts on a regular basis at Turf Moor. His 5.43 dribbles per game leads the Clarets while he has been fouled 2.6 times per game, second-most in the entire Championship. As James explains, teams have taken to smashing Tella without many other ways to stop the rocketing forward.
“Vincent Kompany has a huge amount of trust in him, he gets kicked from pillar to post in most games because he’s so fast, he’s got loads of speed and quite a bit of trickery as well so he’s sort of adjusting to the physicality of some of the opposition full-backs. He doesn’t play 90 minutes too often but I think that's mostly because of the sheer volume of work he gets and the number of sprints he does as well. He’s done really really well.”
Burnley’s 4-2-3-1 system shares certain similarities to Ralph Hasenhuttl’s 4-3-3 and 4-2-2-2, notably in the role of the full-backs to get high and support in attack. This in turn pushes the wingers inside and while Tella has excelled as a traditional touchline winger this season, he has also shown his adaptability and penchant for moving to wherever he can be most dangerous.
Below is the 23-year-old’s touch map from Burnley’s recent 1-0 win at Coventry. Starting on the right, Tella drifted all over the attacking half of the pitch, causing constant menace and notching his side's crucial winner in the 39th minute.
It was from one of these inside spaces that Tella found himself in to create the movement and opportunity for his goal. With the Burnley right-back high and wide, Tella starts inside and initially checks in towards the ball - dragging his marker with him - as it is recycled around Kompany’s defence.
But in a flash, he turns away and makes a run into the space behind the defender he has dragged towards the ball.
The ball over the top arrives and Tella takes it down with a perfect first touch before firing into the bottom corner.
Hasenhuttl has utilised Tella as a second striker in the past - most recently in Saints’ pre-season trip to Austria - and it’s this kind of movement that makes one believe he could succeed centrally. As discussed previously, this roaming quality is also perfect for the wide attacking roles in Hasenhuttl’s preferred systems.
Here is another example of Tella leading Burnley’s counter with a driving run through the middle of the opposition defence - in this case Stoke City.
On this occasion, Tella’s eventual shot is saved but it’s easy to see why he’s been able to find so much joy this season with the way he intelligently attacks dangerous spaces and offers himself as an outlet for his teammates on the counter-attack.
But it doesn’t only go one way. Tella’s aforementioned dribbling ability has been crucial to Burnley’s ability to break down the plethora of stubborn defences in the Championship.
We looked at this same idea following Saints’ 2-2 draw with Brighton last season - Tella is a magnet with the ball at his feet. Defenders are naturally drawn to him and most sides feel the need to send multiple players in his direction. That in turn, frees up others around him even if it’s in tight spaces like a crowded penalty area.
Below is a great example of exactly that from Burnley’s 1-1 draw with Cardiff. Tella receives the ball on the right side of the box with one defender on him and six others in the area.
He decides to cut inside and by the time he reaches the centre of the box, three Cardiff players have congregated around him with the rest all keeping their eyes on the ball.
There’s no way through for Tella but his drive inside has opened up space for Josh Cullen on the edge of the box. Tella backheels to the midfielder and his shot is just saved by Cardiff’s goalkeeper.
This is an example of Tella’s ability to shift around defences and open up tight spaces but it also works with green grass to run into.
In the below example against Bristol City, Tella is the target of Burnley’s counter and he’s fed the ball sprinting into the free space on the left flank.
He drives past the defender in his path and into the box.
It’s here where once again two defenders surround him to focus on the immediate danger. That leaves a pair of Burnley players free on the edge of the box and Tella does indeed go there, finding Josh Brownhill whose first-time volley is blocked.
While it’s no doubt the goals and creativity that have made Tella such a popular person around Lancashire, it’s his constant smile and infectious positivity that has helped him move towards cult status so quickly.
"I’ve only spoken to him once but everything I hear is really positive," James explains. "He’s always got a smile on his face, he’s enjoying his football, he’s settled in Manchester where he’s living, he seems to have settled in with the team really well and he’s really thriving on the way Burnely are trying to play football at the moment. Which is with a lot of the ball and he’s seeing a lot of it and he’s probably the most creative attacking player.
"He’s just a really down-to-earth and focused individual as well and you can see that. Getting released by Arsenal at 17, working his way back into the Premier League and then he’s obviously not quite found a regular spot at Southampton, so he’s come 400 miles to Burnley to try and develop and improve as a player and person."
Tella himself now feels comfortable in his temporary home despite the obvious life changes that have accompanied the move.
"Joining Burnley was a tough decision because Southampton was quite homely and I was settled there," he told LancsLive recently. "I didn't know anyone in Manchester, didn't know anything about Burnley but to bring the best out of myself I think it was something I had to do and I think I am bringing the best out of myself.
"I have settled in quite well, I am used to living by myself and have been doing that since I was 16 so I don't think it is a massive difference whether it is in London, Southampton or Manchester. If I have my focus on football then I think everything takes care of itself so it is down to me. I can't afford to slip up or be distracted by anything else so being by myself is helping me focus and will help in the long run."
All that is clear in the way he plays: with a giant smile on his face. Kompany had long admired Tela before he was finally able to link up with him this summer and the Belgian does indeed believe Southampton's player is living up to his own lofty expectations.
"When you have a player who plays with a smile on his face it usually tells you everything," Kompany said recently. "I think that is what we have, he has a spring in his step and thinks he can do anything at the moment and we don't want to stop that.
"He is a great lad around the dressing room for the team. As much as we know we don't own the contract long term, he has blended in as if he is here for the next five or six years.
"That is what I want from all the loan players, they have to feel part of the club and they do. I don't take that for granted. When you are a pro it is very demanding but I don't take it for granted, he comes in every day and is doing well and is not changing his habits because he is doing well."
It’s believed that Saints have an option to recall Tella in January but the exact details of that clause are unknown. Kompany himself is remaining tight-lipped on the matter. "I am not even thinking about that," the City legend commented. "The main thing for me is to keep him improving and to keep him focussed on what he has to do."
“From watching him play, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t at least a conversation from Southampton's point of view about whether recalling him might be beneficial," James concluded. "I think Burnley would love to try and get him on a permanent but that seems unlikely.”
Tella's immediate and long-term future is deep within the realms of the unknown but one element of it has become clear over the past few months: His future is incredibly bright.
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