Scotland reveal Under-21 squad as players put on alert for Euro 2024 after Steve Clarke advice

Scot Gemmill names squad for upcoming friendlies

Scot Gemmill has named his Scotland Under-21 squad for the upcoming friendly matches against Turkey and Austria amid a message from Steve Clarke for the youngsters to be on standby for a potential Euro 2024 call-up.

Clarke announced his 28-man squad for the tournament in Germany on Wednesday but with several players involved in the Scottish Cup final, FA Cup final and Championship play-off final this weekend – and two friendlies against Gibraltar and Finland to come – changes to the line-up are still possible in the event of any injuries.

“There is no standby group,” Clarke said. “Well there is a standby group because Scot Gemmill will name an under-21 squad group tomorrow (Thursday) for two friendly matches. There is your standby group there. And what I would say to anybody who Scot picks for the under-21s is that it’s probably worth going to that camp because you never know what’s going to happen over the next 10 days.”

Scotland Under-21 head coach Scot Gemmill has named his squad for upcoming Euro qualifiers. (Photo by Laszlo Szirtesi / SNS Group)

The young Scots head to Istanbul to play Turkey on Monday, 3 June before travelling to Vienna to take on Austria on Friday, 7 June. The matches mirror the senior squad’s Euro 2024 warm up games, which take place on the same days, against Gibraltar and Finland.

Ben Doak is a notable absentee from the Under-21 squad after being included in Clarke’s provisional squad for Euro 2024. There are some new faces, however, with Motherwell's Lennon Miller and Kilmarnock's David Watson called up at Under-21 level for the first time.

Watson was the winner of both the PFA Scotland and Scottish Football Writer's Young Player of the Year awards, while Miller was also nominated for both awards alongside Scotland Under-21 regular Lyall Cameron. The other first-time call-up is Robert Apter who enjoyed a productive season on loan at Tranmere Rovers from Blackpool.

Connor McAvoy returns to the squad for the first time since 2022 after recovering from a serious injury.

On Doak’s selection for the senior squad, Gemmill said: “I think it is really exciting. Steve spoke about it yesterday, with the squad obviously raised to 26, he named 28, it is a provisional squad so I think it is really exciting and a brilliant opportunity for him, same as all the other players.”

On the potential for more of his squad, which includes the likes of Josh Doig, Connor Barron, Max Johnston and Tommy Conway, to join Doak, Gemmill added: “It is huge motivation and it is fantastic that they know the national team manager is watching the Under-21s so closely.

“We said many times, he knows better than anybody, who is in the squad, what level they are at and the potential that they have and, as he said, anything can happen in football so the players have to be ready.

“The players are very intelligent, they will have watched Steve speaking and are watching the senior squad very closely. We will be concentrating on preparing to play our games and if anything happens we will react to that.

“These players have a lot of self-confidence and belief and they are very ambitious. There will be players in our squad disappointed that they are not in Steve’s squad and I think that’s good, that’s healthy. We want to be working with players with that mentality and they need to keep pushing, they know that.”

Scotland Under-21 squad:

Adam Devine (Rangers on loan to Motherwell), Adedire Mebude (KVC Westerlo on loan to Bristol City), Azeem Abdulai (Swansea City), Cieran Slicker (Ipswich Town), Connor Barron (Aberdeen), Connor McAvoy (Fulham), David Watson (Kilmarnock), Jack Newman (Dundee United), Josh Doig (Sassuolo), Josh Mulligan (Dundee), Kai Fotheringham (Dundee United), Lennon Miller (Motherwell), Leon King (Rangers), Lewis Fiorini (Manchester City on loan to Charlton Athletic), Liam Morrison (Bayern Munich on to Wigan Athletic), Lyall Cameron (Dundee), Matthew Anderson (Celtic on loan to FC Admira Wacker Modling), Max Johnston (Sturm Graz), Michael Mellon (Burnley on loan to Dundee), Robert Apter (Blackpool on loan to Tranmere Rovers), Tommy Conway (Bristol City), Vincent Angelini (Brentford).