Tom Heaton has been involved with the group at Aston Villa’s pre-season training camp this week as he continues his recovery ahead of the 2020/21 Premier League season.
The experienced ‘keeper made an impressive start to life at Villa Park last term but his campaign was curtailed by a serious knee injury suffered at Burnley on New Year’s Day.
Nearly eight months later, Heaton is understandably delighted to be back out on the grass.
Great to see you back out there, @TomHeatonGK! 😍#AVFC pic.twitter.com/1I1dAExxF1
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) August 20, 2020
Speaking to VillaTV, he said: “It’s been a bit of a journey to get this point after getting injured at the turn of the year, but it’s fantastic to be back outside.
“To get the gloves and the boots on, it’s a fantastic feeling and I feel like we’re making real progress.”
With fixtures revealed earlier this week, the start of the new season will unfortunately be too soon for Heaton, but he has his sights set on a return to action.
“It’s a difficult one to pin-point, I think the start of the season, unfortunately, has come too soon,” he explained.
“It has landed fortunately with the fixtures, we’re not playing on the first weekend and we only have three Premier League games up until the October international break.
“At the minute, I’ve got my eye set on that and that certainly gives me enough time.
“Fingers crossed, that’s what I’ve got my sights on and we’ll see how it plays out.”
Watch the full interview with Tom Heaton on VillaTV or the all-new Villa app now!
