Pope a concern for England ahead of squad announcement

Burnley and England goalkeeper Nick Pope could be a doubt for Euro 2020 due to a knee injury. Clarets boss Sean Dyche confirmed on Sunday that the 29-year-old, who last played in the 2-0 win at Fulham on May 10, requires surgery.

Pope, who has seven senior international caps, had been expected to be named in Gareth Southgate's 26-man Euro 2020 England squad on Tuesday. According to reports in England, Pope will require around a month to recover, meaning he is likely to miss the tournament. 

Burnley stated the player will be assessed following the operation to see whether he can be part of England's plans, with their opening game against Croatia taking place on June 13. "Unfortunately, Nick is going to need a minor operation on his knee this week," Dyche said via Burnley's website.

"That's not ideal for him or us and possibly for the England team. We'll wait and see. It's nothing too serious, we don't think, but it still needed doing. He was trying to get right for this game [Sheffield United versus Burnley on Sunday] to give it a test but didn't quite come through in training, so he and we have had to make a judgement call on that. It's mainly down to him and he knows what he's got to do. He'll have that [the operation] done this week and hopefully, it will settle down for a quick recovery."

Ahead of Sunday's final round of matches, Pope had kept 11 clean sheets for Burnley in 32 Premier League games this season. Only Hugo Lloris (12), Emiliano Martinez (15), Edouard Mendy (16) and Ederson (18) had more. Among goalkeepers to play in at least five matches, Pope's save percentage of 75.33 was the highest in the division except for Manchester United's Dean Henderson (76.6).