Burnley left-back Charlie Taylor says he is focused on achieving his best form at club level before he thinks about England duty. The 26-year-old has had a stop-start season so far after being struck by injury, and only made his first top-flight start of the campaign in the 3-0 win against West Ham last time out, with Erik Pieters playing in his place.
However, towards the back end of last season, he was beginning to show some of the form that convinced the club to sign him from Leeds in the summer of 2017.
The Clarets signed him on a free transfer but because he was under the age of 24, the Whites were entitled to compensation, and Burnley duly then paid approximately £6million.
He played in every Premier League match term, starting 35 of the 38 games, and came on as a sub in the others.
Last month, Clarets boss Sean Dyche indicated that he believes there is a “lot of room” for Taylor to be considered for England duty at some point in the future.
However, the York-born full-back says he is focusing on getting back to his best for Burnley before he even thinks about representing the Three Lions, despite being flattered by his boss’ comments. “It’s nice to hear,” said Taylor. “I think he (Dyche) has a lot of faith in all the players. It’s good to hear that kind of thing from your manager, it shows he has a lot of belief in you as a player. “I want to play well every week, contribute to the team and start picking up points again. It’s the best league in the world with top, top players in every position so we’ll see, but it’s hard.”
Burnley’s rise from the Championship to Premier League stability has seen them produce numerous England players over the past few years.
The fine form of Nick Pope prior to the 2018 World Cup saw him selected by Gareth Southgate for the Russia tournament, displacing number one Tom Heaton, who was already in the England fold.
Joe Hart had long since been an England international, while James Tarkowski won his first cap in a 1-1 friendly draw with Italy in March 2018.
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