BURNLEY boss Sean Dyche believes there is more to come from Nick Pope with the 24-year-old still developing as a goalkeeper.

Pope made his Clarets debut as a second half substitute at Bradford City after his £1.1million switch from Charlton.

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The shot stopper takes the number of senior goalkeepers at Turf Moor to three, and Dyche believes the new man will learn from Tom Heaton and Paul Robinson, who both now bring England experience to the camp.

Pope was only expected to get 20 minutes at Valley Parade, but instead came on for Heaton at the break, although he wasn’t involved at Bolton on Tuesday with Robinson replacing Heaton midway through the second half.

And although the former non-league goalkeeper has 77 Football League appearances to his name Dyche believes there is plenty more to come.

“With Nick, he is a senior keeper and he’s played a good amount of football, but I still think there’s more to come,” said the Clarets chief.

“He is senior/still developing. All goalkeepers are, Tom still works hard on his game and Robbo is very open minded to work hard on his game, but Nick is still learning and still developing and we think there’s more to come from him, but I thought he gave a good account of himself (at Bradford).”

Dyche believes goalkeeper and central defenders can take longer to develop in their positions, and sees plenty of potential in Pope for the years ahead.

“I’ve spoken about it for the last few years now,” he said. “Keepers and centre backs, I think they often come into their own later on because they learn the game, it’s a different viewpoint from those key position.

“I think centre half’s and goalkeepers develop slightly more over time than other positions further up the pitch.”

Heaton had a watching brief on opposite number Pope on the final day of the season as Burnley won the title at Charlton.

He spoke to the former Ipswich Town trainee over the phone to welcome him to the club and has spent the past 10 days training alongside him at Gawthorpe.

“I think he looked really good when we played against them last year, he comes with a great reputation and I’ve worked with him for a few days now, he looks excellent, so it’s going to add to the group,” said the Clarets captain, who is six years older than the former Charlton skipper.

“Robbo signed a new deal as well, which is fantastic, he was great last year, certainly for me, and what he brought himself, so I think we’ve got a good group, with young Conor Mitchell as well, who’s come back looking in fantastic shape.

“I think we’ve got a real good department, and it can only bode well.”