Clarke says Euros squad places are 100% up for grabs

Steve Clarke has re-iterated that there are “definitely” places up for grabs in his final Euros squad for Germany in the summer.

“Absolutely,” he said the night before his team face the Netherlands in Amsterdam.

“There are always places up for grabs because you don’t know what’s going to happen. This week we have a number of players who are not here who would have been here but they’re injured, so nothing is going to change on that front over the next six or seven weeks.

“Players will get injured, it happens in football. Hopefully we don’t get too many and we don’t get big injuries that cause somebody to fall out (of the reckoning for the Euros) but I’m looking at 27 or 28 players and we have to narrow it down to 23, so there are decisions to be made, absolutely, 100%.”

Clarke is without Scott McKenna, Grant Hanley, Callum McGregor, Aaron Hickey and Jacob Brown for the Netherlands game, a list of absentees that only prove football’s unpredictability and the futility of naming squads ahead of time, says Clarke.

The Scotland manager says he knows why others do it, but he hasn’t sat down and thought about a final 23 yet: “I don’t have to do it until the middle of May.”

The key questions over his selection for the Netherlands game surround goalkeeper - will he opt for Angus Gunn, or will he be tempted by Zander Clark, or want a closer look at Craig Gordon? The smart money is on Gunn.

The brilliantly in-form Lewis Ferguson will probably be asked to fill the void left by McGregor and there’s intrigue over who starts up front. Lawrence Shankland has many supporters among the Tartan Army but it would be a surprise if Clarke strayed far from the tried and tested. Che Adams to start with Lyndon Dykes and Shankland held in reserve would appear to be the direction of travel.

Second-guessing Clarke’s thought processes has proven a mug’s game in the past, of course.