Tom targeting England shirt

Heaton missed Villa’s 2-1 defeat at Wolves and was forced to pull out of the England squad in an international break that saw his old Burnley rival Nick Pope take the England gloves from Jordan Pickford.

Heaton left Burnley in the summer in a quest for regular game-time to enhance his chances of usurping Pickford.

And Smith says he has been back on the grass ahead of Monday’s clash with Newcastle United.

He said: “He’s always been a proud Englishman. He’s proud to have been called up. I think he felt his move to Villa would have helped that. He’s certainly not let us down so far.

“He was feeling his calf but he’s looking forward to getting back to full fitness and getting back into the team and hopefully get the No.1 shirt.”

And Smith hopes to see Grealish back where he belongs at Villa Park on Monday.

He said:“Jack Grealish has been training with us. I’m a little bit ill at ease to say he’s available because I’ve said it for the last couple of weeks and he’s not played – such has been his calf injury. But he’s trained with us for the last week so I have no doubts he’ll be there and in his happy place at Villa Park playing in front of the fans.

Smith revealed his disappointment at Steer’s injury.

He said: “I had no doubts about giving Jed the start but unfortunately five minutes in his had to come off and Orjan (Nyland) ended up going in goal.

“Against Wolves he got a partial tear of his Achilles so he’s going to be out for a while, which is a big disappointment because he was pivotal in us getting promoted last season and he’s been pushing Tom all the way.

“I don’t have an idea about how long Jed is likely to be out – I’m guessing around about 3-4 months I would have thought. It’s a disappointment but we are taking a conservative approach. It’s not surgical which is good news and hopefully we can get him back as soon as possible.”

And Smith says his internationals have returned to the Midlands unscathed.

He said: “All the internationals have come back in quite a buoyant mood. We’ve got John McGinn who has been to Scotland and scored 6 goals in his last three games for Scotland so he has bounced back into the camp.

“We’ve got two brand new internationals now from Brazil in Douglas Luiz and Wesley who have made their debuts as well. Trezeguet has played for Egypt and Conor Hourihane played for Ireland so they have all gone and got their minutes for their countries and are all fit and well. It was great seeing them coming into training on Friday.”