Tom Heaton has pulled out of the England squad with an unspecified injury and he’s likely to be replaced by Sheffield United’s on-loan keeper Dean Henderson. Heaton is understood to have picked up an injury in training and will not be joining up with Gareth Southgate’s 23-man party for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Montenegro and Kosovo this month.
The injury was serious enough to rule him out of the Aston Villa squad for Sunday’s Midlands derby with Wolverhampton Wanderers with Jed Steer taking the gloves in his place.
But Steer, making only his second ever appearance in the Premier League, left the field only five minutes in with what appeared to be a calf problem.
That led to third-choice stopper Orjan Nyland entering the fray from the bench for his first senior action in almost 11 months.
The Telegraph report that Henderson, on loan at Sheffield United from Manchester United, is expected to now join up with the England squad in place of Heaton for the second month running.
He linked up with Gareth Southgate’s squad in October when Heaton withdrew for “further assessment” by Villa medics on an unspecified injury sustained during his side’s 5-1 win over Norwich City.
Henderson, who has played for England from under-16 to under-21 level, described his call-up last month as a “dream come true”.
But he is unlikely to feature in either of the Euro 2020 qualifiers – barring another injury.
The 22-year-old has 11 caps for the England under-21s and is highly regarded by Southgate and the Three Lions’ coaching staff.
Before Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur, in which he was beaten by a deflected Heung-min Son shot after a disastrous piece of defending from Enda Stevens, Henderson’s statistics showed he was outperforming the three keepers originally selected by Southgate.
He was first or joint-first of all Premier League goalkeepers for clean sheets (five), fewest goals conceded (eight), save percentage (78%), high claims (seven) and punches (seven).
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