BURNLEY are attempting to make Charlton Athletic goalkeeper Nick Pope their first signing of the summer as they look to bring in back-up for Tom Heaton.

The Clarets have currently only got one senior keeper on the books, with England Euro 2016 star and club captain Heaton occupying the No 1 spot.

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Matt Gilks is set to be released at the end of the month and has already held talks with Scottish Premiership side Hearts, while veteran Paul Robinson has been offered a one-year contract but has yet to sign.

That leaves a shortage of back-up for Heaton, and the Lancashire Telegraph understands the club have had an initial bid for highly-rated Pope turned down by the Addicks.

The 24-year-old finished the season as No 1 at The Valley and it believed to be part of future plans at the club as they look to recover from relegation to League One under new manager Russell Slade.

The Soham-born stopper has been with Charlton since he signed from non-league Bury Town in May 2011, undertaking loan spells at Harrow Borough, Welling United, Cambridge United, Aldershot Town and York City, before making 22 appearances in a spell with Bury as they secured promotion from League Two last year.

He was back at The Valley last season and made 24 league appearances in the Championship, keeping six clean sheets.

He did, however, concede three times against Burnley on the final day of the season as Sean Dyche It is understood that Charlton expect the Clarets to return with another bid for their shot-stopper, although they are not keen to sell as they look to return to the Championship at the first time of asking.

Sources close to the south London outfit say midfielder Johann Berg Gudmundsson, who is on Euro 2016 duty with Iceland, Belgian forward Igor Vetokele and 18-year-old English striker Ademola Lookman are seen as more saleable assets as the club looks to slash the wage bill.

But they accept it would be hard to deny a player the chance to move to a Premier league club if he fancied a flavour of top flight football, albeit as an understudy.

A similar situation materialised two years ago when former Charlton goalkeeper Ben Hamer signed for newly-promoted Leicester City, knowing he was unlikely to dislodge first-choice Kasper Schmeichel at the King Power Stadium.

But he did get his chance when the Denmark star picked up an injury on international duty, allowing Hamer to make eight Premier League appearances.