Euro 2024 qualifiers: Scotland squad for matches with Cyprus & Spain
- Published
Zander Clark and Angus Gunn will be competing with Liam Kelly for the Scotland goalkeeper's jersey
Steve Clarke says he has been "a little bit loyal" to some of his squad for the opening Euro 2024 qualifiers because it will benefit Scotland in the long run.
Defenders Liam Cooper, Nathan Patterson and Kieran Tierney have had limited Premier League game time of late.
The same is true of midfielders Scott McTominay, Stuart Armstrong and Billy Gilmour, plus forward Ryan Christie.
"If you look over the course of the season, most of the boys have had a lot of minutes," the Scotland coach said.
"There's one or two in the squad that maybe I've been a little bit loyal to, to bring them in and keep them involved in it.
"That's important because the ones that I'm speaking about will be a big part of the Scotland squad moving forward, I hope."
Uncapped Zander Clark and Angus Gunn have been included in Scotland's squad for the qualifiers against Cyprus on 25 March (14:00 GMT) then Spain on 28 March (19:45 BST).
First-choice goalkeeper Craig Gordon has a long-term injury and Clark, 30, has taken the40-year-old's place at Hearts.
Norwich stopper Gunn, 27, committed his international future to Scotland after being capped by England Under-21s.
Motherwell's Liam Kelly, 27, is picked again and Clarke says it's "all to play for" among the three keepers.
Clark has previously been in the squad and Kelly and fellow uncapped stopper Robby McCrorie, of Rangers, were on the bench for Scotland's November friendly defeat in Turkey.
Gunn's father Bryan played six times for Scotland in the early 1990s and also had a lengthy spell at Norwich City after moving from Aberdeen.
Clarke heard of the younger Gunn's interest in representing Scotland "through a third party" before meeting him in Norwich.
"He's part of the squad and a very welcome part of the squad too," Clarke said.
"We've lost Craig Gordon injured, which is a massive blow to us. Craig was the undisputed number one. I just felt that if we could improve the pool of goalkeepers, that's what we should do."
Dykes return a bonus to Clarke
Hearts forward Lawrence Shankland, who has scored 21 goals this season, misses out having been absent from his club's past two games while injured Nottingham Forest defender Scott McKenna is not included.
Queens Park Rangers striker Lyndon Dykes makes the squad after a recent spell in hospital with illness.
"Lawrence was right at the front of my mind," Clarke said. "Probably the fact that he's picked up a little injury, I think his hamstring, might just have swayed me to go the other way.
"I've got Lyndon back. I wasn't really expecting Lyndon to be fit. I watched him play for QPR at the weekend. He was on the pitch for 56 minutes and he looked OK to me."
Celtic captain Callum McGregor returns to the squad after missing the November friendly defeat by Turkey due to injury while defenders Cooper and Aaron Hickey are also back.
However, Liverpool right-back Calvin Ramsay does not feature after making his senior international debut in Diyarbakir while 10-times capped Celtic left-back Greg Taylor is also omitted.
Scotland squad
Goalkeepers: Zander Clark, Angus Gunn, Liam Kelly
Defenders: Liam Cooper, Grant Hanley, Jack Hendry, Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson, Ryan Porteous, Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney
Midfielders: Stuart Armstrong, Lewis Ferguson, Billy Gilmour, Ryan Jack, John McGinn, Callum McGregor, Kenny McLean, Scott McTominay
Forwards: Che Adams, Jacob Brown, Ryan Christie, Lyndon Dykes