The Burnley star was one of the most impressive performers at any level last time around, by firing the Clarets to automatic promotion with his 26 goals and also being named as the Championship Player Of The Year.
Ings was one of Burnley's top performers in the Championship last season
His eye-catching form at Turf Moor won him a place in Gareth Southgate’s Under-21s squad, where he has become an important part of the strikeforce as the Three Lions chase qualification for next summer’s Euros in Czech Republic.
And with Ings now set to perform on the highest stage of English football during the new season, he is hoping to keep himself at the forefront of Southgate’s mind.
"Of course that [Euro qualification] is a target," he said, during Burnley’s pre-season training camp in Austria.
"I want to work as hard as I can in the Under-21s to hopefully one day be in the starting line-up for my country.
"Players like Jay Rodriguez, who got to play for his country, they’re the players that I want to follow.
"That would be an unbelievable moment for me and my family."
Still only 21, Ings’ career has already had plenty of ups and downs, with his spell at Burnley getting off to a slow start due to two serious knee injuries in his first two seasons following his move north from AFC Bournemouth in the summer of 2011.
Watch Ings score his first England goals against San Marino in November
But Clarets boss Sean Dyche certainly got the best out of the Winchester-born striker last term and Ings says the whole campaign will live long in his memory.
"It was an unbelievable journey, from the start of the season until the last game," Ings told Clarets Player.
"I worked as hard as I could do and started the season really strongly, it just built up and up as the team did well that helped me to do well.
"Being a young lad like myself, it’s rare that you get seasons and opportunities like that to be part of a good team, but getting promoted is something that not many players get to enjoy during in their career so to do it at 21 is crazy.
"It’s something I want to build on, get stronger and better and hopefully get a few more under my belt in my career."
Ings has also enjoyed a somewhat charitable summer during the close season, making headlines in Lancashire for all manner of reasons.
From dropping off over £600 in cash to a cancer charity during a shopping trip in Tesco, to dropping off a local girl to her school prom in his car, Ings has now revealed more plans for helping the community in the new season.
Ings is looking forward to facing Premier League stars such as Under-21 team-mate Raheem Sterling
"In my spare time this summer, I’ve tried to help as many people as I could off the pitch, raising money, going to do school visits and presentations in the evenings," he said.
"Things like that are really special to me, I’ve tried my best to get into charity work and hopefully this September there should be a good project coming.
"It’s being put in place over the summer and it’s going to be a personal one for me and I just can’t wait to get it started.
"We get a lot of spare time, so the least I can do is give something back, especially in Burnley as in the first two years the fans were very patient with me when I was injured.
"I didn’t get any grief for being injured by fans getting on my case or the club’s case and at the moment, everything’s flying on and off the pitch."
England Under-21s are next in action in early September when they face a double away trip to Lithuania and Moldova before tackling the Euro play-offs in October.
