Burnley's promotion to the Premier League means the return of links to some big-name players, with manager Vincent Kompany hoping to put his connections to good use.

The Belgian impressed in his first season as a coach in English football by guiding the Clarets to an immediate top-flight return, breaking the Championship's 100 points barrier in the process.

Helped by the loan signing of Taylor Harwood-Bellis from Manchester City, plus the permanent arrivals of CJ Egan-Riley and Arijanet Muric from the same club, Kompany was not afraid to turn to his former employers.

That could be a trick he repeats this summer, as the Daily Mail reports that Burnley are interested in signing Albert Sambi Lokonga on loan, with the player currently managed by former City coach Mikel Arteta at Arsenal.

Should Burnley sign Albert Sambi Lokonga from Arsenal?

Lokonga has not had a great deal of success on the face of it during his two seasons in the Premier League, the second of which saw him loaned to Crystal Palace midway through the campaign.

However, the 23-year-old certainly has qualities that can be of use to Burnley, not least his ability on the ball. Indeed, Lokonga's 90.4% pass-completion over the past year, as per FBref, places him in the top 3% of his positional peers across Europe's top five leagues.

That figure climbs to 94.3% across his nine Premier League appearances for Arsenal last season, which was the most of any Gunners player to have featured more than five times.

While not as heralded, there are comparisons to be made between Lokonga and Liverpool midfielder Fabinho.

They won a very similar number of aerial duels last season (0.98 v 1.01 respectively) and tackles per 90 minutes (1.34 v 1.28), while their pass completion rates of 89.1 and 88.3 were pretty much identical.

Lokonga does not provide goals, which again is the same for Fabinho, with the pair involved in 1.23 and 1.85 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes respectively last season.

Kompany will know all about Lokonga's ability, having previously managed him during their time together at Anderlecht. It was at that time the now-Burnley boss opened up on a conversation he had with Arteta and Pep Guardiola regarding the up-and-coming star.

"The first thing I did when I saw Sambi was I went to Mikel, and also Pep, but Mikel first and I said, 'You've got to watch this guy, he's the new Yaya Toure'," Kompany told Rio Ferdinand's FIVE YouTube channel.

The £50k-per-week midfielder is not as big a goalscoring threat as former City star Toure, but the comparisons make sense on the basis of their stature and passing ability (93.5% pass-completion rate for the latter in his final season at the Etihad).

Seemingly unwanted by Arteta, Arsenal's loss could well be Burnley's gain if they are willing to make a bid and bring in a player who may yet prove to be Kompany's own Toure.