Rangers defender John Souttar still has no guarantees over a starting berth in Scotland’s final squad before Euro 2024 despite some defensive injury call-offs.
Norwich City centre-back Grant Hantley has ruled himself out of the Scotland squad for the upcoming friendlies against the Netherlands (A) and Northern Ireland (H) due to injury.
Fellow Scotland centre-back Scott McKenna – the Rangers-linked defender who is on loan at FC Copenhagen – is also being assessed for a problem.
The situation is of direct interest to John Souttar – who is Rangers’ only representative in the Scotland squad – and you’d be forgiven for immediately thinking he’s lined up to play a big role in the next two weeks.
But defensive competition is fierce in Steve Clarke’s squad with plenty of options available for the friendly double-header.
Grant Hanley injury leaves four for Scotland
Rangers star John Souttar is still one of four centre-back options available for Scotland for the friendlies, with Jack Hendry (Al-Ettifaq), Ryan Porteous (Watford), and Liam Cooper (Leeds United) also included.
Given Scotland have at times played with three at the back, Kieran Tierney (Real Sociedad) has also deputised in the position in recent times.
In recent matches, Scotland have opted to play with two at the back with Ryan Porteous and Jack Hendry rotating alongside Scott McKenna.
Should all three be fit, we suspect they are a little ahead of the Rangers star in the pecking order.
Rangers defender John Souttar was involved in the October international friendly against France, but injury ruled him out of the November break and the end of European Championship qualifying.
John Souttar can fly Rangers flag at Euro 2024
We suspect that whilst some might be ahead of the Rangers star in Steve Clarke’s thinking, it is clear John Souttar is firmly in the Scotland manager’s thoughts
The Ibrox international centre-back, 27, has been a mainstay with Rangers in recent weeks with Philippe Clement giving the defender a big compliment regarding his fitness.
Claiming that John Souttar is amongst the most available players in the squad, it’s a testament to the progress the injury-plagued centre-back has made on his fitness.
As a result, the Belgian has barely flinched when it comes to picking the centre-back to partner Connor Goldson in recent weeks.
We have no doubt that the defender can stand up and be counted for Scotland and it’ll be interesting to see what Steve Clarke decides to do here.
With one eye on Euro 2024 at Germany, it’d also be nice to have a big Rangers centre-half staunchly backing up the Scotland rear-guard.
