Grant Hanley has been withdrawn from the Scotland squad to take on Netherlands and Northern Ireland, the Scottish Football Association has announced.

The 32-year-old Norwich City centre-half returned to the Canaries first-team set-up on Boxing Day last year following several months on the sidelines due to an Achilles injury and has not been in a Scotland squad for more than a year. Clarke is a big fan of what Hanley brings to his defence but after missing his club’s 3-0 win over Stoke City at the weekend, it has now been confirmed that he will not join up with his international team-mates. “Scotland squad update. OUT: Grant Hanley,” read an update from the SFA on X, formerly Twitter. No replacement has yet to be called up.

Clarke spoke just last week about his admiration for Hanley, who has been capped 48 times for Scotland. “Grant was one of the ones who came back involved during my time,” said the manager. “He's a steady, experienced player. He's good in the squad. He's a player that I call a man. He's a man, and you know what you're going to get from Grant game by game. It'll be good to have him back in the squad because he also had a very long-term injury that he has worked so hard to recover from. He's playing pretty regularly back at his club, Norwich, and it will be nice to see him again.”

Grant Hanley will not be involved in Scotland's friendlies against Netherlands and Northern Ireland.

If no replacement is called upon, Clarke’s centre-half options consist of Ryan Porteous, Scott McKenna, Liam Cooper, Jack Hendry, John Souttar and Kieran Tierney, while midfielder Scott McTominay can also drop back into defence if required.

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Scotland boss Steve Clarke loses 'one of his men' as first withdrawal announced from squad