YOU could forgive Tom Heaton for cursing his luck and wondering 'what could have been' this summer.

Had he not suffered a dislocated shoulder for Burnley last September, that would have been him in the England squad. Had he not suffered the injury, that could have been him in the England team.

While the Three Lions have restored pride in the national team in Russia with a run to the World Cup semi-finals, Heaton has watched on the TV.

But the disappointment has been consigned to the dustbin. It's a new season and a new chapter. Heaton is back with the Clarets determined to win his place back in the side.

The story has to start on September 10 though, just before half-time against Crystal Palace at Turf Moor when the Burnley captain landed awkwardly after claiming a high ball. It was a dislocated shoulder, and it was a bad one.

"It was frustrating, I can’t hide that," Heaton says of his time on the sidelines.

"When the injury happened it was disappointing. The prognosis from the surgeons was that it was pretty severe, I had quite a few issues with it.

"It wasn’t the basic, standard dislocation, even though a few people couldn’t wait to tell me there was a rugby league lad who dislocated it one week and then played in the Grand Final the next week, which is just you want to hear.

"I had quite a bit of severe stuff going on with it, it’s important to get it right and not to rush it, albeit in the back of my mind was the World Cup.

"I dealt with the first part of it quite well, Ally Beattie (head physio) and the team here, the surgeon was fantastic, that first part when you’ve got the routine, it’s the closer you get to being fit and the closer you get to decision time for making the World Cup, the more frustrating it was, that void of uncertainty can be difficult to deal with."

Heaton knew then that he was chasing it. His surgeon told him his season was done, but he refused to accept it.

Having put himself in contention for Russia, with three England caps to his name, there was no way the 32-year-old was admitting defeat in his World Cup dream.

Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph at Burnley's training camp in Cork, Heaton said: "I remember seeing the surgeon once and he said ‘you’re going to be best of writing off the season’. I was having none of it.

"It was the World Cup, I’d played for England over that summer before the season started against France and I felt everything was going well.

"I wasn’t going to give it up lightly and rightly so, World Cups don’t come around very often, I wanted to be involved in it.

"It also gave me something to chase, although I got a bit frustrated towards the back end of the season, it’s also nice to be in the gym on the dark days putting the hours in knowing what you’re aiming for.

"Although it didn’t happen I was delighted to be on standby for it, especially as I hadn’t kicked a ball in anger for nine months."

The call to be on standby duty shows how valued Heaton is by England boss Gareth Southgate.

His place in the Three Lions squad was taken by the man who replaced him in the Clarets side. But Heaton was pleased for Nick Pope and he believes the experience in Russia will be invaluable to him, just as it was for Heaton in Euro 2016.

"I was delighted for him and he deserved it, his performances last season were excellent. The way things had gone with the goalkeepers I think his performances deserved a call-up," he said.

"It’s been a great experience for him, obviously disappointing they didn’t make the final, to be involved in a World Cup final would have been fantastic.

"I’m sure he can draw a lot from the experience, I remember in the Euros for me it was a similar sort of thing, I took an awful lot from it and I’m sure he’ll be the same."

When Heaton went off against Palace the Clarets faithful had no idea what to expect from Pope. He was still a relative unknown, but the man he was replacing had been impressed with his displays in training and felt confident he had what it takes.

"His performances in training had been great, every day he performed well, he’d developed since he came in under Billy Mercer and he was moving forward," said Heaton.

"He’d given himself a great chance, but for anyone until you do it you never really know. Thankfully for him he did it and evolved from that."

While Heaton worked himself hard in the gym to get back in contention before the end of the season, Pope went from strength to strength on the pitch.

For some it may have been difficult to watch, but the club captain is stronger than that.

"I try not to think like that. Me and him have an excellent relationship, I was delighted for him and the club," he said.

"My thoughts are often intrinsic, you start focusing on that sort of stuff you’re going to be up against it.

"My focus was on getting right and whatever situation I came back to I would deal with then.

"I’ve always tried to have that internal thinking, it’s about what I do, not about what anyone else does, I'm sure he feels the same.

"There’s no negativity towards it."

Heaton has returned to pre-season training with Burnley feeling 100 per cent fit and he is hoping to give boss Sean Dyche a decision to make on who starts in goal over the next month.

There may be a question mark over whether the Clarets can keep two England goalkeepers happy, but while Heaton is adamant he wants to play, he wants to play for Burnley.

"You can only talk about your own mindset, but I want to play, I don’t want to not play. That’s where I’m at," he said.

"Everything for me is geared towards getting in the team and performing. I want to play here, I want to be in this team.

"I’ve missed a fair bit of football and it gives you time to reflect on it and what you want to achieve and added to the hunger of getting back playing."