This time next week, a number of Celtic players will have left the club to go on international duty. Thankfully this is the last international break before Christmas, and then after that the Hoops can concentrate on league, cup and European duty up until the winter break.
Scotland have two internationals on the horizon against Cyprus and Kazakhstan. Four Celtic players have been called up for the squad, as announced on Twitter.
The Celtic quartet are Greg Taylor, Ryan Christie, Callum McGregor and James Forrest. However, the games are meaningless for Scotland, as they cannot qualify for Euro 202o through the group stages.
Games should be experimental
Therefore, Celtic should try to come to some arrangement with the SFA to get the players pulled out of the squad. If the games were meaningful, then there would be no issue with the players taking part in the games. But surely these are games were Scotland boss Steve Clarke can experiment.
He does not have to play his strongest sides at the moment. The Celtic players should be released if an agreement can be reached between the Hoops and the SFA.
Perhaps could be used in first game only
Perhaps even if the players were only involved in the first game that could be an option. That would mean that the players would still return to the club early.
If there any complaints from fans of other clubs then the response from Celtic should be that the Hoops are trying to improve Scottish football by making progress in Europe.
If need by, to show that the SFA doesn’t favour any of the Scottish teams in Europe, Rangers’ Ryan Jack should also be released from the squad.
The chances are, that other teams in Scotland would not be happy if Celtic managed to arrange a deal with the SFA. So it will most likely remain a pipe dream. However, it is definitely an idea that Celtic should pursue.
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