Celtic winger Mikey Johnston may feel a little bit hard done by after not being included in the Scotland squad named by Steve Clarke on Tuesday.
The former Kilmarnock boss named Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie and James Forrest in his squad for the Hampden double header against Russia and Belgium.
However, there was no place for 20-year-old Johnston who has enjoyed a spectacular start to the season under Neil Lennon.
He will instead join up with the under-21 squad where he will hope to add to his already impressive tally of eight caps.
Was Johnston worth a Scotland call-up
When you look at some of the players that Clarke called up to his latest squad you can’t help but feel Johnston has been harshly treated. In terms of wingers, we aren’t absolutely blessed currently. Ryan Fraser and James Forrest have both been standouts for club and country in recent seasons but beyond that there’s really not a great deal of quality.
The fact an aging Robert Snodgrass has earned another call-up says quite a lot about the current state of play. Matt Phillips is another who hasn’t ever really done it for Scotland while strikers Oli McBurnie and Steven Naismith are surely no more deserving than Johnston.
However, it does seem like a matter of when and not if Johnston earns his first senior call-up. He has grown immeasurably as a player in the past couple of months so you can only imagine where he’ll find himself at the end of the season.
Who knows, maybe even on a plane to France.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
