JJ Watt & ex-USWNT star wife Kealia ‘prepared’ for the worst at Burnley as NFL legend endures Premier League relegation battle

The NFL legend became involved with the Clarets as they surged towards a Championship title triumph in 2022-23. He formed part of trophy-winning celebrations at Turf Moor and has been a regular at home games ever since, as he continues to mingle with the Lancashire natives.

The current campaign has been a testing one, though, and Watt has told CBS Sports of planning for life back in the Football League: “Being on the board, being in meetings you don’t ever want to have to prepare for [relegation], but realistically it’s irresponsible if you don’t. Of course we’re prepared for that situation, we’ve discussed all those things, but we’re fighting and doing everything we can to try and stay up. We got a few good loans during the last transfer window in [Maxime] Esteve, [Lorenz] Assignon and [David] Fofana, so we’re going to fight our hardest and do our best. If the situation does arise, we’ll be prepared for it and we will prepare to bounce back up very quickly.”

While Burnley have found the going tough this season, Watt is convinced that Vincent Kompany remains the best coach to lead the club forward. He added on the Manchester City legend: “He’s great. Some of my favourite times have been sitting in the dressing room with Vince, just talking football, talking through the tactics, talking through the mentality, the motivation. He’s been brilliant at that. He’s been a fun part of my job.”

Burnley are now joint-bottom of the Premier League standings, with just 13 points picked up through 24 games. They sit seven points adrift of safety with 14 games left to take in – the first of which will see them play host to title-chasing Arsenal on Saturday.