Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope is set to miss Euro 2020 in a blow to Gareth Southgate’s preparations for the tournament.
Pope is to undergo knee surgery next week and, with three weeks until the start of the Euros, he is unlikely to be fit this summer.
Southgate names his 26-man squad on Tuesday and had been planning to include Pope as his No2 goalkeeper behind Jordan Pickford.
But Pope has missed Burnley’s final three games of the season and Clarets manager Sean Dyche said on Sunday: “Unfortunately, Nick is going to need a minor operation on his knee.
“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 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.”
