England goalkeeper Tom Heaton says his chances of playing at Euro 2020 this summer “have gone” because of injury.
The Aston Villa player, 33, was ruled out for the season after suffering cruciate knee ligament damage in January’s 2-1 win at Burnley.
“It’s comfortable that [my chances of playing at the Euros] have gone,” Heaton told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“It’s going to be a longer [spell out]. My ACL went and it’s only five-and-a-half weeks post-op now,” he added.
Heaton was a mainstay in goal for Villa this season until his injury, making 20 appearances in the Premier League after joining from Burnley in August.
He was also part of England’s squad for their most recent Euro 2020 qualifiers against Montenegro and Kosovo in November, but did not appear in either match.
Speaking about the injury, Heaton continued: “Interestingly, when I first did it, I wasn’t quite sure how it happened. It felt a bit numb and there’s a lot of adrenalin, but the physio gave it the ‘code red’ to say I’ve got to come off.
“I’m saying, ‘Hold on, let’s not jump the gun here – let me try and stand up’. But I was miles off. I stood up, gave a little yelp in pain and had to sit back down.
“When I was getting stretchered off I’m more worrying about the team, because there were still 10 minutes to play away from home in a big game and I didn’t want to let the lads down. But after an assessment the next day it was obviously a serious injury.”
The former Burnley keeper has won three caps for England, but has not featured since he played the first half of the friendly defeat by France in June 2017.
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