‘Much bigger than football’ – Why JJ Watt had plenty to smile about during latest visit to Burnley despite NFL legend witnessing 2-0 defeat against Everton

The American football superstar was among those in attendance for the Clarets’ Premier League clash with Everton. Vincent Kompany’s side slipped to a 2-0 loss, leaving them stuck inside the relegation zone, but the game did see South Africa international Lyle Foster return to action for the first time since October 21.

Foster was granted a leave of absence back in November due to the recurrence of a mental health issue, with Burnley rallying around one of their own. Watt falls into that camp, with it pointed out after the Everton game that: “Some things are much bigger than football.” Watt added after posing for a picture with 23-year-old forward Foster: “Seeing this man on the pitch again should put a smile on anyone’s face.”

While Foster is back in domestic action, Kompany has ruled him out of international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations in January. Burnley’s boss has told BBC Sport: "Physically he is in a good place and it seems like we have made progress. 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. 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."

Watt is a minority investor at Burnley, alongside his wife Kealia, and is set to become the star of a documentary series that will rival that put together by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney at Wrexham.