Oli Burke is reborn at Celtic and back on Scotland radar

Celtic loanee Oli Burke in action for Scotland U21s. Picture: Craig Foy/SNS

The Scotland manager is hoping to build on the feelgood vibes that were created by the successive wins at the end of the successful Nations League campaign last year. “The optimism rises,” he said. “We’re bursting to go again.”

While unwilling to give any guarantee the on-loan Celtic striker will feature in his squad when the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign kicks off next month against Kazakhstan and San Marino, McLeish has backed Burke to push on after some bright performances for Brendan Rodgers’ side.

He has not played for Scotland since arriving on the scene with great fanfare under Gordon Strachan. He disappeared from the manager’s plans almost as quickly. Burke dropped back down to Under-21 level, where he shone as skipper at the Toulon Tournament last summer.

McLeish wonders whether it was a case of too much, too  early with Burke, who he admits is back on his radar after scoring three times in nine appearances since returning north of the Border on loan from West Bromwich Albion.

Burke made his competitive debut for Scotland against Malta shortly after becoming the country’s most expensive ever player when moving from Nottingham Forest to RB Leipzig for £13 million.

“You have to be patient with the guys,” said McLeish. “I know a lot of players can mature early. Oli started like a house on fire, he had a wee stutter, and now he is coming back again with a lot of confidence.”

The manager compared Burke to another winger/striker in Gareth Bale, pictured, whose emergence was similarly meteoric – something which nixed McLeish’s attempt to sign him on loan for Birmingham City from Spurs. “Harry [Redknapp] was going to give me him,” he said. “He said: ‘hold fire the now, we are short of men and playing him in Europe’. He scored! There goes that loan deal. I was bringing him in as a left-back at the time. Harry played him further forward – and the rest is history.”

The difference with Burke is that Bale kept evolving into the player we know now. The Scot has suffered a sticky time at West Brom but is still only 21 years old – the same age as Bale when he scored his breakthrough hat-trick in the San Siro against Inter Milan in a Champions League group game in 2010.

Confidence is a strong substance and McLeish believes Burke is starting to feel the benefit of being able to demonstrate what he can do.

“When I was at Aberdeen, in my young days, I always remember you think you have made it, then you hit a spell when you cannot see the wood from the trees and think: ‘I don’t know what I am going to do to get back to that form’,” recalled McLeish. “And then it can come back again – just a certain moment in a game, or a certain bit of confidence you get, and your career is off and running again. He has a lot to give. But I see it in a lot of players. When I got in that maturity spell, when you get to 28, 29 or 30 years old, it’s experience you can rely on. But confidence is a big factor .

“If Oli can do what he has started off doing at Celtic then it can only be good for us.”

Pressed on the likelihood of him featuring in a couple of weeks’ time, when the manager names his squad for the forthcoming qualifiers, it seemed McLeish was still deliberating. Even though Leigh Griffiths is taking a break from football on health grounds, he has Steven Naismith, Steven Fletcher and Oli McBurnie already in the queue. James Forrest also scored a hat-trick on his last outing for Scotland from out wide.

“I can’t rule anyone out,” said McLeish. “Oliver’s come up here and he’s playing for the team at the top of the league, a team with great belief and confidence in themselves. That’s been a great  environment for him to come into.

“He’s struggled a bit to nail down a permanent place down south and I know he’s also been in and out of the  Celtic team but you can see that the confidence is coming back to him and we have to evaluate everyone who is of Scottish origin.

“Of course, if he’s playing to a certain level, then Oli Burke will be a candidate. I’m not saying we’ll definitely pick him but we can’t ignore him.”