Preview: Cyprus v Scotland: Why players in England’s lower divisions are more attractive to Craig Levein than those in the SPL

THE home-based Scottish internationalist is rapidly becoming an endangered species. The squad from which Craig Levein will select his 18 for Friday’s friendly against Cyprus features players from 16 English clubs.

And one Scottish club, Rangers. Admittedly, the situation is slightly exaggerated by the ankle injury currently sidelining Celtic captain Scott Brown and the decision to hold back his club team-mate James Forrest for the Scotland under-21s’ European Champions qualifier in Holland a week on Monday. But only slightly.

While no Scottish Premier League club outwith the current title holders are represented in Levein’s latest selection, an English third tier performer – Huddersfield Town’s Jordan Rhodes – has been deemed worthy of senior game time, ahead of jetting across Europe to join up with the U21s. The Scotland manager is unapologetic about being an Anglophile. He revels in the fact that 12 of those travelling to Cyprus play their club football in the exalted English Premier League. Yet, while the concentration of Scottish internationalists south of the Border demonstrates that Scotland is now beginning to export players again in healthy fashion, it must also reflect the unhealthy state of the domestic product.

“We have three players from Rangers [Allan McGregor, Lee Wallace and Steven Whittaker] and Steven Naismith would have been the fourth [but for his cruciate ligament injury],” Levein says. “Broony [Scott Brown] and Forrest would have made it six. That is the lowest we’ve had from the SPL for a long time. It’s probably an indication of the strength of the squad that we’re having more players playing in the English Premier League. It is one of the best leagues in the world, the level of competition is pretty high and that means you’re playing against top-class international players all the time. It’s no disrespect to the Scottish Premier League, but the same level of player doesn’t ply their trade in that. Every week in the English Premier League you’re practising against what you’d be facing in international football. That’s the difficulty with the SPL. The amount of money being spent to attract players by the Old Firm – and they are indicative of the strength of the SPL – is far less than, say, ten years ago. It may be controversial, but I see the SPL now becoming a breeding ground for young Scottish talent that will migrate south.”

The SPL, Levein says, will up its representation again with players such as Hearts’ Andy Webster and Andrew Driver in his thoughts and the recent progress of such as Aberdeen youngsters Fraser Fyvie and Peter Pawlett and Dundee United’s Johnny Russell noted. It might have been expected Motherwell’s Jamie Murphy would be another in that bracket but he hasn’t reached the consistency required as far as the Scotland manager is concerned. Not that it is easy arriving at any hard and fast conclusions over the standards achieved by Scottish-based players when those that they are operating within are so relatively low. Except for the occasions they face the Glasgow clubs.

“That’s how I judge these players; I watch them playing against the Old Firm and, if they can perform at that level, then it’s a better indication to me that they’re getting closer to international football,” he says. “It’s hard. I go to watch a player week after week after week and Murphy is a good example. He shows some flashes at times, he has qualities that are promising for international football in the future, but I don’t see him doing it week in, week out. I look at Forrest at Celtic and he’s performing at a level now that is pretty consistent. I always get this moan that the national team don’t call up players from other SPL teams [but do when they then move to England]. Don Cowie might be a perfect example. He’s gone from Inverness to Watford and now Cardiff and established himself at a higher level. Because of that their game improves and it’s easier for me to judge them.”

Picking players will never be an exact science, stresses Levein. He knows it might appear odd that he has called up 21-year-old Rhodes after his nine goals in six games in League One in October but overlooked Ross McCormack’s top scorer status in the Championship, with the ex-Motherwell man having netted ten times for Leeds United. “What Jordan has done is probably not as good as what Ross has done,” Levein says. “You’ll say ‘so why is Ross not in and Jordan is in?’ Well, Ross has been involved in the past, I know what he can do. Jordan Rhodes I don’t know that well. The calculations go on in my head and it’s not obvious on paper.”

Rhodes is a player Levein has watched learn “very quickly” in the past year to play with a physicality that wasn’t obvious 12 months ago. “Sometimes players surprise you by improving enormously in a short period of time,” he says. “Jordan Rhodes has done that and his performances for the under-21s have made it really difficult to ignore him. My previous experience of the under-21s has been pretty good, with David Goodwillie, Barry Bannan and James Forrest all having done a good job coming out [from] that level, with Grant Hanley and Danny Wilson as well. Rhodes finds himself, through instinct or whatever you want to call it, in goalscoring positions. It’s not a fluke. His record tells you that he has that little bit of magic dust strikers need. It’s intelligence in the penalty box.”

The intention is for Rhodes to come on for Kenny Miller at some point in the Cyprus game and partner with another substitute, Craig Mackail-Smith, as an experiment in fielding two strikers. With Blackpool goalkeeper Matt Gilks possibly coming on for McGregor at some point on Friday, Scotland may feature no home-based players.

But, following Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp’s comment this week that his club were keeping tabs on Celtic attacker Forrest, Levein’s belief that the east end of Glasgow remains the best place for the 20-year-old show a certain faith in the poor old Scottish game.

“In my mind you need to be playing first-team football at 19, and earlier if better. But 19 is an important age, because there are points when you outgrow youth football and need to be pitched in against men to learn to cope with the physicality of that step up. The other thing in my head is that players need to play 100 games before they move. These are just my unwritten rules. Even if some big team comes in for James Forrest, and I’ve no doubt they will at some point, I would suggest he plays 100 games for Celtic, and again I’m generalising, to become an established player before he goes anywhere. He has European experience that comes with playing for the Old Firm and, if you can handle playing for these teams over 100 matches, you can step into any environment and cope. History is littered with players who moved before they established themselves and their careers haven’t gone the way they hoped.”