Nick Pope: No thought to possible England recall as Burnley battle relegation

Nick Pope has insisted he is giving no thought to a possible England recall as he focuses on Burnley’s bid to climb off the foot of the Premier League table.

The 29-year-old was left out of Gareth Southgate’s last two squads, having earned the most recent of his seven caps in a 2-1 World Cup qualifying win over Poland in March last year.

That was the first time Pope had conceded an international goal after six clean sheets in an impressive start to his England career, but he has seen himself fall down the pecking order regardless.

But as much as he would love to earn a recall for the friendlies at the end of March, Pope said he is only thinking about Burnley’s survival fight.

“I’m not hoping at all,” Pope said. “It’s so far away and there are a lot of important games before then. For me to have half an eye on that would be disrespectful to this club and my team-mates.

“Of course it would be good, as getting in any England squad is for any individual – you feel you’ve performed at a good level to get into the elite of this country. It’s always an honour and any player will tell you that.

“But it’s something that if it happens it happens and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. There’s a big few weeks for this club that need to be concentrated on. It’s something that will look after itself.

“Anything less would not be doing justice to my manager here, my team-mates and this club that has done so much for me.”

Pope’s form certainly has not been part of the problem for Burnley this season. The Clarets sit bottom of the table having lost nine of their 21 league games – the lowest number of any side in the bottom seven.

In their 21 games, Burnley have conceded 29 goals – again, the lowest number in the bottom half of the table and fewer