HEATON: UNITED HELPFUL TO MY BURNLEY SUCCESS

Tom Heaton has hailed his time with Premier League giant, Manchester United as a huge contributing factor to his time at Burnley.


The goalkeeper was one of the 24 players former Red Devils manager Sir Alex Ferguson took to Russia for their 2008 Champions League final clash against Chelsea. He was the third choice goalkeeper, so he merely followed the team everywhere. He was on the stands in Luzhniki Stadium alongside other stars like French star Louis Saha, Barcelona defender Gerard Pique, Chris Eagles, Park Ji-sung, Danny Welbeck and others.

Tom Heaton has hailed his time with Premier League giant, Manchester United as a huge contributing factor to his time at Burnley.

The goalkeeper was one of the 24 players former Red Devils manager Sir Alex Ferguson took to Russia for their 2008 Champions League final clash against Chelsea. He was the third choice goalkeeper, so he merely followed the team everywhere. He was on the stands in Luzhniki Stadium alongside other stars like French star Louis Saha, Barcelona defender Gerard Pique, Chris Eagles, Park Ji-sung, Danny Welbeck and others.

Van der Sar was the shot stopper on duty and his save from Nicholas Anelka ensured the Red Devils ended up as conquerors – their third European title.

“That was a big moment. I trained every day and had been everywhere with them but never played a minute. It was strange, to be honest. You don’t feel like a fraud, but you feel [strange] celebrating.

“It was brilliant being in the dressing room, watching the build-up, how they went about it. It was absolutely incredible as a young lad being there, mixing around them and learning at that level. It certainly brought the best out of me. More than anything, it gave me a great grounding in the game,” the Burnley shot stopper said

Heaton added that he left Moscow a different man as he longed to be the main man after experiencing that level. Since exiting United, Heaton has gone on to have a decent career at Burnley. This earned him his first call up to the Three Lions set-up last season.

“I’d never consistently played anywhere. There was no shortcut. I had to go and earn a career. That is what I needed to do,” Heaton said. He joined Cardiff after several loan spells before becoming the number one at Burnley since 2013.