Key Scotland starters emerge as major doubts for October internationals as club issues medical update

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke has had no shortage of injury issues to contend with over the past year and now another two key starters are giving cause for concern ahead of the upcoming October internationals.

Clarke was without several key men for Euro 2024 with Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson, Lewis Ferguson and Lyndon Dykes all ruled out of the tournament in Germany while Kieran Tierney was injured in the second match against Switzerland.

All but Dykes were still unavailable for the opening Nations League A fixtures against Poland and Portugal at the start of the month which ended in last gasp 3-2 and 2-1 defeats to leave Scotland without a victory in eight consecutive competitive fixtures for the first time in their history.

Jack Hendry was added to the list of injury absentees for that squad, while Clarke was also hit with three withdrawals with Celtic duo James Forrest and Greg Taylor joining Torino striker Che Adams in pulling out with minor injuries, which came as a further blow to the Scotland head coach on top of losing Callum McGregor to premature international retirement at the age of 31.

Now two more of Clarke’s key men have emerged as major doubts ahead of the upcoming Nations League matches against Croatia and Portugal next month.

Scott McKenna is a doubt for Scotland’s Nations League fixtures next month. | Getty Images

Centre-back Scott McKenna has started Scotland’s last three matches and produced one of his best performances in the dark blue jersey in the 2-1 defeat in Lisbon up until losing Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal’s 89th minute winner.

The 27-year-old, who has 39 caps, earned a big move to La Liga during the summer, signing for Las Palmas following the expiry of his Nottingham Forest contract. It followed a stint on loan at Copenhagen where the former Aberdeen defender played in the Champions League knock-out stages.

With McKenna currently playing at a high level in one of Europe’s top five leagues, he is expected to be a linchpin of the Scotland defence for the remainder of the Nations League campaign and into qualification for the 2026 World Cup.

However, his chances of featuring against Croatia in Zagreb on October 12 and Portugal at Hampden three days later have suffered a major blow after his club confirmed that he missed the 2-1 defeat to Osasuna on Saturday due to a hamstring injury picked up in training the previous day.

A medical report posted the Las Palmas website read: “Our player, Scott McKenna, has suffered a muscle injury in his left hamstring, sustained during the training session held at the Sports Complex last Friday. The recovery time will depend on his progress.”

Clarke is also sweating on the fitness of midfielder John McGinn after the Scotland vice-captain was forced off at half-time during Aston Villa’s 3-1 win over Wolves on Saturday. Villa manager Unai Emery has revealed that the injury is not long-term but confirmed that McGinn will miss upcoming matches with the Scotland squad set to be named next week. "It is his hamstring,” Emery said. “When we arrived here, he had a hamstring injury against Tottenham in the January and today I think it is less than that injury. But he will be not available, I think, for a few weeks."

In a much-needed boost for Scotland and Clarke, Everton right-back Patterson played his first match in nearly six months when featuring in an Under-21s victory over Sunderland on Sunday. The 22-year-old, who required hamstring surgery after pulling up at Chelsea in April, completed 65 minutes and is expected to push for a return to the Toffees first-team squad in the next few weeks.