James McFadden will not feature for Scotland against Croatia

James McFadden says he will not be involved in Scotland's World Cup qualifier against Croatia in June.

McFadden made few appearances with Everton and Sunderland last year but has returned to playing regularly since rejoining Motherwell, his first club.

"I won't be in the Scotland squad for the Croatia game," McFadden said.

"I've spoken to the manager. He says I've missed a lot of football and he doesn't want to put too much pressure on me to play in the game."

The 30-year-old, capped 48 times, last played for the national team in the 2-1 win over Liechtenstein in September 2010.

He has scored four goals in 11 appearances for the Steelmen following his move to Fir Park in February, which followed short spells at Sunderland and Everton.

Scotland have four Group A games left but cannot qualify for Brazil 2014 and McFadden is hopeful of being involved in national coach Gordon Strachan's future plans.

"He wants me to get a good pre-season and then maybe I'll come into the reckoning after that," added McFadden.

"He let me know that if I was playing well I'd be in consideration for the squad, that was about it.

"I can understand where he's coming from but at the same time I'm disappointed, I want to play as soon as I can. As I said the last time, if he asked me to play now I'd be able to play.

"I take a lot from the fact that the manager's phoned me and explained it to me so I can take that as being a positive; get a good pre-season and try and impress him."

McFadden's short-term deal at Fir Park finishes at the end of the season, at which point he intends to weigh up his options.

"I've not had any offers," he added. "I would consider [an offer from Motherwell] but I need to get the season finished and enjoy the summer and see what happens.

"I've not got any expectations or aims on where I want to be. The main aim was to come back and play games every week, get to the end of the season and take it from there.

"I've got my family here and it would be nice to be based here but that's my job, I play football, and you could be moving away somewhere you never expected."