'We like the player as well': Steve Clarke responds to England's Elliot Anderson interest and comments on Harvey Barnes speculation

Scotland manager Steve Clarke confirmed his continued interest in capping Elliot Anderson and refused to rule out a move for Harvey Barnes after Tuesday’s friendly against England.

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke during a press conference.

Anderson spent two days with Scotland last week before withdrawing from the squad and England manager Gareth Southgate has since expressed admiration for the Newcastle midfielder and stated his backroom team would be taking the situation up.

Clarke said: “We like the player as well so Elliot will still have that choice to make. When I come out of this camp I will look at what we have done, what we have had, what’s occurred over this camp, we will do a debrief on it and then we will shape what we do from there.”

Anderson’s Newcastle team-mate, Barnes, is reported to be considering a switch of allegiance after playing once for England in a friendly win over Wales three years ago. When asked about Barnes, Clarke said: “Probably the same comment, to think about that after. We want the best players we can possibly get. If they are eligible for Scotland and they have a chance to play for us and they can improve the squad that I’ve got – which is not an easy thing to do…

“And I get all the story round it, because we are playing England you want to speak about Elliot, you want to speak about Harvey. I quite like speaking about the boys I have got because they have put us in a really good position and they deserve a lot of credit for that.”